This Cafe Is Staffed Entirely By Deaf People

GRANADA, Nicaragua ― When we walked into the cafe, we were greeted by a waitress who smiled, held out a menu, and pointed to a table. It’s only when we asked for “una mesa para seis,” or a table for six, that we realized something was a bit different: The waitress glanced at our group and held up six fingers. That’s because she ― and all the other staff ― are deaf. Last month, The Huffington Post visited Café de las Sonrisas (“Smiles Cafe”) in Granada. The business only employs people who are deaf, from the waiters to the cooks. “My goal is for this cafe to be a mirror for other businesses to lose their fear of hiring people with disabilities,” founder Antonio Prieto Buñuel ― who is from Spain, and goes by “Tio Antonio,” or “Uncle Antonio” ― told HuffPost. (Our conversation took place in Spanish.) “It’s also for the people who work here [who have disabilities] to lose their own fear of integrating into the workforce,” he added. “So they can fly.” In Nicaragua, about 1 person in 10 has a disability, according to 2003 figures, the latest available. But around 99 percent of people with a disability are unemployed, local news outlet El Nuevo Diario reported in 2013. (HuffPost reached out to the Nicaraguan government’s office on disabilities to confirm the figures, but didn’t receive a response.) While Nicaraguan law requir...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news