First deaf restaurant of Canada opens in Vancouver

A restaurant called DeaFined has opened in downtown Vancouver, becoming the city's first restaurant staffed by deaf people.

The restaurant opened on Thursday in a posh corner of Vancouver. The Eastern Mediterranean restaurant is staffed almost entirely by deaf and hard of hearing wait staff. It's one of only two restaurants in North America that focus on hiring staff with hearing disabilities.

Moe Alameddine, the owner of the restaurant, told Xinhua that the business not only aimed at providing jobs to those who are hearing impaired, but also at closing the gap between those who can hear and those who can't.

"All the servers are actually like deaf and hard of hearing. We will have a floor supervisor who is interpreter at the same time hearing, so they can interpret if there's any, like, any communication between the customers and the servers, like to bridge with the other staff as well," Alameddine said.

Customers are encouraged to try ordering food and drinks using American Sign Language with the help of notepads and menu.

Deaf people in the province of British Columbia face an unemployment rate of nearly 38 percent compared to the national average of about 7 percent. Alameddine hoped to create a comfortable and unique environment to bring together people who can hear with employees who can't.

Levi Lamontagne, one of the servers at DeaFined, said it was more challenging for deaf people to find work of any kind, and the idea of working in a deaf restaurant interested her. She said with sign language that she felt a bit overwhelmed right now but knew that communicating would become more comfortable as she got more experience in the restaurant.

Alameddine said most deaf people never worked in the restaurant business because it's an industry where people don't see many deaf and blind people. He hoped his business would open the eyes for other business owners.

The restaurant got in touch with a local college, employment agency and other advocates to help recruit the deaf wait staff.

"You don't see them much, so I said I have to go and take the challenge all the way. We've been preparing the project for three months and as you see we're getting ready to start working in the restaurant," he said. Endite