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News-Sentinel | 09/08/2006 | Survey: Service poor for deaf
Most of us don’t think twice about using the drive-through at a fast-food restaurant. The service is generally quick and we don’t have to leave our vehicles to get our food.
That hasn’t been the experience for Barbara Sieminski, who has been progressively going deaf. She has only 25 percent of her hearing left.
In July, Sieminski was among 20 deaf or hearing-impaired people, working with the Fort Wayne Deaf Advocacy Coalition, to survey 20 Fort Wayne fast-food restaurants with drive-through service. The restaurants were chosen because consumer complaints about them were filed with state or local advocacy groups regarding access issues for the deaf. The names of the restaurants had not been released to The News-Sentinel as of this morning.
Complaints included no pen and paper available to write down an order, employees refusing to take an order at the pick-up window and no signs explaining how to accommodate deaf people.
The coalition and Fifth Freedom, a Fort Wayne-based disability rights advocacy organization, scheduled a news conference for this afternoon to discuss the results of the survey, titled the “Drive-Thru Project.” It found 17 of 20 restaurants lacked the minimum federally mandated accommodations for people with disabilities. A message left after business hours Thursday for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., was not returned by press time this morning.
On July 8, Sieminski drove to a local fast-food restaurant drive-through and headed toward the pickup window to place her order, bypassing the speakerphone. The employee at the pickup window, Sieminski said, refused to place her order because she did not use the speakerphone. So, Sieminski tried again, and again was refused service.
“Because I depend on visual facial cues and body language for my information, communicating over a faceless speakerphone is – well, let’s just say I’d rather have a couple of root canals than do that,” she said. Sieminksi is a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of local publications, including The News-Sentinel.
During the past year, all the restaurants surveyed were sent letters regarding the complaints and told of the rights of people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the coalition.
“The No. 1 ADA violation is the lack of signage at the majority of restaurants, indicating what the deaf community could do, (and) how they can order food,” said Sheri Caveda, executive director of Fifth Freedom. “Even those who did (see signage), said it was so obscure no one could find it.”
Fast-food workers are either uninformed about their obligations or are ignoring them, she said. High employee turnover rates could be part of the problem, she said, as could managers who know the law but fail to communicate it.
The good news is 19 of the 20 restaurants surveyed in July – many of which had complaints on file against them for refusing to serve a deaf person at the pickup window – accommodated the deaf surveyor. Staff at the respective restaurants were not aware they were being surveyed.
Until they were trained, some of the surveyors thought they had no choice but to go inside to order their food, Caveda said.
Also, 80 percent of consumers surveyed before their training “believed that restaurants would lose money if they served deaf people,” Caveda said.
Fifth Freedom and the coalition would like to see buttons installed at the speakers in the drive-through lane. A deaf consumer would press the button to alert staff taking orders that the person needs special accommodations. The surveyors would also like the option of getting printed menus at the pickup window so they can point to what they need. Some people who are hearing-impaired also are speech-impaired.
“We want the hearing community to know that deaf people simply want the same opportunities as everyone else,” said Kim Drake, a coalition board member.
By the numbers
♦An estimated 27,000 people who are deaf or hard of hearing live in Allen County, according to the Fort Wayne Deaf Advocacy Coalition.
♦National surveys of deaf consumers show 40 percent have been refused service at a drive-through restaurant at least once, according to Fifth Freedom, a Fort Wayne disability rights advocacy organization.
♦ This is the 16th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Title III of the act sets equal-access guidelines for restaurants.
Most of us don’t think twice about using the drive-through at a fast-food restaurant. The service is generally quick and we don’t have to leave our vehicles to get our food.
That hasn’t been the experience for Barbara Sieminski, who has been progressively going deaf. She has only 25 percent of her hearing left.
In July, Sieminski was among 20 deaf or hearing-impaired people, working with the Fort Wayne Deaf Advocacy Coalition, to survey 20 Fort Wayne fast-food restaurants with drive-through service. The restaurants were chosen because consumer complaints about them were filed with state or local advocacy groups regarding access issues for the deaf. The names of the restaurants had not been released to The News-Sentinel as of this morning.
Complaints included no pen and paper available to write down an order, employees refusing to take an order at the pick-up window and no signs explaining how to accommodate deaf people.
The coalition and Fifth Freedom, a Fort Wayne-based disability rights advocacy organization, scheduled a news conference for this afternoon to discuss the results of the survey, titled the “Drive-Thru Project.” It found 17 of 20 restaurants lacked the minimum federally mandated accommodations for people with disabilities. A message left after business hours Thursday for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., was not returned by press time this morning.
On July 8, Sieminski drove to a local fast-food restaurant drive-through and headed toward the pickup window to place her order, bypassing the speakerphone. The employee at the pickup window, Sieminski said, refused to place her order because she did not use the speakerphone. So, Sieminski tried again, and again was refused service.
“Because I depend on visual facial cues and body language for my information, communicating over a faceless speakerphone is – well, let’s just say I’d rather have a couple of root canals than do that,” she said. Sieminksi is a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of local publications, including The News-Sentinel.
During the past year, all the restaurants surveyed were sent letters regarding the complaints and told of the rights of people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the coalition.
“The No. 1 ADA violation is the lack of signage at the majority of restaurants, indicating what the deaf community could do, (and) how they can order food,” said Sheri Caveda, executive director of Fifth Freedom. “Even those who did (see signage), said it was so obscure no one could find it.”
Fast-food workers are either uninformed about their obligations or are ignoring them, she said. High employee turnover rates could be part of the problem, she said, as could managers who know the law but fail to communicate it.
The good news is 19 of the 20 restaurants surveyed in July – many of which had complaints on file against them for refusing to serve a deaf person at the pickup window – accommodated the deaf surveyor. Staff at the respective restaurants were not aware they were being surveyed.
Until they were trained, some of the surveyors thought they had no choice but to go inside to order their food, Caveda said.
Also, 80 percent of consumers surveyed before their training “believed that restaurants would lose money if they served deaf people,” Caveda said.
Fifth Freedom and the coalition would like to see buttons installed at the speakers in the drive-through lane. A deaf consumer would press the button to alert staff taking orders that the person needs special accommodations. The surveyors would also like the option of getting printed menus at the pickup window so they can point to what they need. Some people who are hearing-impaired also are speech-impaired.
“We want the hearing community to know that deaf people simply want the same opportunities as everyone else,” said Kim Drake, a coalition board member.
By the numbers
♦An estimated 27,000 people who are deaf or hard of hearing live in Allen County, according to the Fort Wayne Deaf Advocacy Coalition.
♦National surveys of deaf consumers show 40 percent have been refused service at a drive-through restaurant at least once, according to Fifth Freedom, a Fort Wayne disability rights advocacy organization.
♦ This is the 16th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Title III of the act sets equal-access guidelines for restaurants.
