What dining experience in Toronto allows you to order a coffee from across the room and not offend anyone?
I talk with my hands a lot when speaking, not my fingers, signing involves a dexterity and fluidity that as a hearing person I haven’t had to acquire. One of the things that I noticed last night while eating and ordering at Signs Restaurant was how physical the act of signing is. Not only do the staff have amazing dexterity with their hands, I saw that faces are a powerful way to get your message across and they use their facial expressions to communicate in a way that I don’t think I see amongst people who are communicating verbally.
Upon entering the restaurant a bilingual hostesses(signing and English) introduces you to the culture of the restaurant, speaking to you while signing at the same time. It’s obvious right away that participation is encouraged. I was taking my girlfriend out for her birthday, we’ve talked about going here for a while now. I arrived early and the hostess wanted to know if I’d decided on whether or not to have Happy Birthday sung to her.
“Will it be sung or signed to her?”
“Signed.”
“Then definitely!”
I’m not a big fan of the middle of restaurant singing of the song but signing I couldn’t turn down.
Because of the physicality of signing and being an RMT I wondered, are there injuries that are related to signing? If a deaf person has a shoulder injury, is their ability to communicate hindered? An elderly deaf person who isn’t as mobile as they used to be might not be as clearly understood as they once were? These people depend on their joints to communicate.
I wondered how and if I’d be able to treat a deaf client and are deaf people getting access to RMT? Are there deaf RMTs? The school I went to wouldn’t have been able to accommodate a deaf student. In spite of my inability to communicate with a deaf client,(with the exception of now some basic greetings)someone could book with me online and we could pre arrange as much as possible through e mail. It’s an exciting prospect.
Ironically I’ve probably never had as much interaction with my server than I did last night at Signs. His enthusiasm to serve, teach and correct us as we tried to clarify the proper hand gestures was touching. We ordered the special dessert of the night which was a hot apple pastry with vanilla ice cream. The candle was lit and the staff came by to sign Happy Birthday while from across the room I got my servers attention to sign an order for a coffee….
On another note this city is filled with inaccessible restaurants that some people can’t access and the City of Toronto is trying to punish this one for being accessible, read here for more information.
No comments yet.