Restaurant owners in Virginia have adjusted their menus to make it easier for customers to order from a server who has been deaf since birth.
Sierra Campbell is a server at Orexi Greek and Mediterranean restaurant in Midlothian. WTVR reported.
Campbell, 22, was hired by restaurant owners Rasool and Angie Al Hasani in January.
They revamped the restaurant’s menus to include common sign language images and also learned how to sign, WTVR reported.
“We’d go to the tables together and I would talk to the person that was here and I would tell them this is how you can order,” Angie Al Hasani said. “You just point to what you want and if there is something you don’t want you just point to that ingredient and shake your head no.”
Customers are finding it easy to communicate with Campbell.
“It was extremely easy,” Maxwell Kanczuzewski told WTVR. “All I had to do was point on the menu and use the different modifiers to get what I needed, and service was no different than any other restaurant I’ve been in.”
Campbell attended the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind and then went to Gallaudet University, WTVR reported. She wants to attend Virginia Commonwealth University and is working two jobs to raise money to pay for tuition. She wants to study to be a social worker to help the deaf, WTVR reported.
“I feel good working here at this restaurant,” Campbell said through sign language. “I have a lot of regular customers, they come in and want to see me and that makes me feel good.”
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