[msb-alumni] Starbucks Opens Store Geared for the Deaf
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2018 15:00:21 -0400
BlankStarbucks Opens Store Geared for the Deaf
WASHINGTON, D.C. The storefronts along Washington's bustling H Street Northeast
are lit up with familiar names and logos: Petco. Whole Foods. CVS. There
is also a Starbucks. Or, more specifically, S-T-A-R-B-U-C-K-S spelled out in
the
hand symbols of American Sign Language. That fingerspelling is one way
to spot the coffee giant's first U.S. signing store, where 24 deaf,
hard-of-hearing and hearing employees run the shop using ASL. The store debuted
on
Tuesday after being converted from a standard Starbucks location to make the
design and technology more accessible. It's a step, employees and advocates
say, toward boosting employment opportunities for the deaf community while also
immersing hearing individuals in deaf spaces. And it's a show of support
from one of the world's largest corporate brands. "My identity is accepted
here," said Crystal Harris, a barista at the signing store. "Deafness has many
faces. The store is just blocks from Gallaudet University, a 150-year-old
institution and the world's only university designed for deaf and
hard-of-hearing
students. The shop mirrors Starbucks's first signing store, which opened in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2016. Customers from the outside can spot "Starbucks"
written out in fingerspelling beneath the main logo and on large table
umbrellas. And on the inside, what may appear like any other Starbucks cafe has
been specifically laid out and decorated to celebrate deaf culture. One entire
wall, for example, is covered by a multicolored mural commissioned by a
deaf artist and Gallaudet faculty member. In fingerspelling, the mural depicts
a
lowercase "d," representing deafness, an uppercase "D," representing deaf
identity, an eye to represent visual connections, a hand holding a coffee
'cup',
and other symbols showing merging of deaf and hearing cultures. Customers
can communicate in ASL or write their orders on a tech pad. Rather than wait to
hear their names called at the end of the bar, customers look up to a screen
showing when their drinks are ready. The store was also remodeled to maximize
light and open lines of sight high top tables or tall stacks of 'cup's, for
example, limit visibility for people signing to each other. Non-signing
customers are also encouraged to use visual cues. Rather than sign that the
store
didn't carry chamomile tea, for example, one employee waved his hand across his
neck signaling "no" and then pointed to a printed menu with other options.
Camille Hymes, Starbucks's regional vice president for the Mid-Atlantic, said
the company chose D.C. for its proximity to Gallaudet and because of the
city's ties to activism for the deaf community. Using the store as a profitable
business model, Hymes said, Starbucks can be an example to other companies
of "using our scale for good. Adam Novsam, a Starbucks utility analyst and a
company deaf leadership member, said he had heard from "deaf communities all
over the world that they wanted this space. Even as a Starbucks employee,
Novsam
said that it can be frustrating to go into other Starbucks or coffee shops
and face constant communication barriers. He always has his order typed out on
his phone, for example, "to accommodate the other person. Store manager
Matthew Gilsbach moved from California's Bay Area to run the signing location.
At one point in his three and a half years at the company, Gilsbach said
he was stunned to meet a deaf Starbucks district manager. "I thought, wait,
there's a deaf district manager? Gilsbach said. "What's going on? Any disbelief
that a deaf person could take on a management or executive role is precisely
the
kind of stigma Starbucks and deaf community advocates aim to combat. Howard
Rosenblum, chief executive of the National Association of the Deaf, said that
companies may hire deaf employees at lower levels, but those opportunities
rarely extend up the chain. Some companies show signs of progress: Microsoft's
chief accessibility officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie, is deaf and has fought to
expand accessibility for employees with disabilities. Still, the deaf
community's rate of unemployment and underemployment sits at a staggering 70
percent,
Rosenblum said. "The manager is always a hearing person because there's a
perception of limited ability with deaf people," Rosenblum said. Not so at the
H Street Starbucks. Employee Kylie Garcia had just been promoted from a barista
to a shift supervisor. Garcia grew up as the only deaf individual in a
non-signing, hearing family, and she knows firsthand how difficult it is for
deaf people to find jobs. Garcia previously worked in a Starbucks kiosk at
a Target store where her sole job was to make drinks - never interacting with
customers and often being shut out of conversations with other baristas.
"People turned down offering me jobs because they aren't willing to take the
risk," Garcia said. Pamela Pipes, a hearing barista who is also a sign language
interpreter, moved from Raleigh, North Carolina, to work at the D.C. signing
store. Here, "the tables have turned," Pipes said, in that hearing customers
are going to have to figure out how to navigate and communicate in deaf spaces.
Sitting across from her, Harris joked that during phases of the remodel,
some customers were still stumped. A few waited to hear their names at the end
of the counter. Another walked in and, as if to signal that he wanted a
large drink, held his hands in front of him about two feet apart. The store
will
continue to collect feedback from customers and employees, and Starbucks
may eye another city for the next signing store. But this week, Novsam saw a
dream fulfilled. Two nights before the Starbucks opening, Novsam walked down
H Street to see the mural beaming yellows, pinks, greens and blues. "The
vibrancy moved me," Novsam said. "It made me stop in my tracks. And it gave me
tears.
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