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A three point plan for improving restaurant service for people with disabilities. By Rose Williams Recently, I went out for breakfast with friends. A hostess showed us to our seats and gave us menus. A server came to take our orders. She took everyone's order except mine, then looked at me, and all of a sudden, started to collect the menus. My friend said, "Rose have you ordered?" knowing I hadn't. I said, "No. I am waiting for her to ask me what I want." The server just stood there with her pen ready to write but never asked, so I told her. When my food came, it wasn't exactly what I ordered, but I said, "Never mind. I'll just eat what she brought." My friend however brought the mistake to the server?s attention. The server responded (to my friend), "Oh, that's right, I'm sorry." To me, she said nothing. When I go to a restaurant, I want to be approached in the same manner as everyone else. Most of the time, I am treated differently. The server notices my involuntary muscle movements and speech impediment caused by cerebral palsy (CP). Even though they not mean to come across as such, restaurant personnel often approach in ways that are disrespectful. I get so frustrated at times that I just lose my appetite. On the other hand, I have experienced some wonderful servers who treated me with respect-excellent service makes the food tastes better. On the Road The restaurant ordeal is more intense when I go out of town. While on a church trip to San Antonio, Texas, a friend and I went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. When the server came, he ignored me and asked my friend, "What does she want?" She answered, "I don't know, ask her." He was embarrassed. On another occasion, my friends and I visited a Mexican restaurant, when the server came with the menus, he passed by me as if I wasn't there and gave a menu to everyone else. One of my friends just sat there with tears in her eyes. "Rose, how do you take that kind of treatment?" she asked. I guess I have gotten used to it. At that moment, I decided to speak out, not only for myself but also for millions of Americans with disabilities. While eating lunch back at home one weekend, the server never looked at me or asked me anything, even after my friend repeatedly directed her back to me. Frustrated, I asked the manager about guidelines they use to train employees on how to approach and interact people with disabilities. "There are no guidelines, we have hundreds of customers per day, and about three or four of them are disabled. We don't have time to special train employees for all the different disabilities. We try to assist those who have physical needs such as helping people in wheelchairs get situated at a table, and we help those who want to be served from the buffet." He seemed to miss the point I was trying to make. The approach one takes toward people with disabilities is more important than the service rendered. Many employers might think this kind of sensitivity training would be time consuming, but how long would it really take? Recipe for Success I have devised a one-hour sensitivity training course designed to encourage waitstaff to see beyond the physical manifestations of certain disabilities to recognize individuals with disabilities as paying customers, entitled to full service. The course emphasizes these three points: 1. Relax Be yourself. If you are relaxed, the person with a disability is more likely to be at ease. 2. Use direct contact Make eye contact with the person with a disability and speak directly to him/her. If you have trouble understanding what the person is saying, ask him/her to repeat it. Then, if you are still unsure what the person is saying, get permission from the individual to ask someone else in the party to interpret. (Most likely, by this time the person with a disability would have already appointed someone to help). 3. Don?t make assumptions Speak in a normal tone of voice. Many times servers think they have to talk loudly and in slow motion in order to communicate with people with disabilities, assuming it will take a while for them to understand what they are saying. If a person with a disability needs you to speak more clearly, she/he will let you know. Always give a person with a disability a menu. Serve the person with a disability as you would anyone else. As a person with CP, I would like to go into a restaurant, have a server give me a menu, calmly look me in the eye and ask, "What would you like to order?" I would like for them to look at me, and listen until I am finished talking. If I am having trouble responding, I will ask someone in my party to respond for me. I would like to be served with politeness and candor without having another challenge added to the one I already have. Now, to ensure that my message is conveyed in the clearest manner possible, I not only leave servers a gratuity, I give them a good tip: the following poem, in form of a bookmark. Overdue Tip Dear waitress If you only knew What I can do You would give me that menu I am smart And I can speak So, please ask me "What would you like to eat" Dear waiter Don?t be shy Just look me in the eye And bring me a piece of apple pie Tell your peers They need not fear Nor shout in my ears I can hear very clear About my difference Dar servers, let me explain It?s a problem with my muscles Not my brain Now that you know I?m like the average Joe Next time you see me Just say, "Hello" Take it from me It?s a sure bet This is the best tip You?re ever get About the Author Rose Williams is a poet/essayist and motivational speaker, a native of Charlottesville, Va. and two-time contestant in the Ms. Wheelchair Va. pageant. As co-chair of the Charlottesville/Albemarle VSA arts committee, she loves to inspire the young and the old encouraging them to discover and develop hidden talents. Month after month, Rose presents poetry workshops and speeches to senior groups, inner city children, special needs students, and at many other community events. Her most recent accomplishment is the publication of her first book, Strike-a-Pose Rose, a collection of poems. Born with cerebral palsy and now wheelchair dependent due to degenerative effects of arthritis, Rose lives life to the fullest and recently discovered her own hidden talent of photography. |