By SHREYA CHOWDHARY
March 30, 2017
“Mirchi and Mime is a newly-opened Indian restaurant in Mumbai, India, which serves both delicious food and social inclusivity.”
At the surface, Mirchi and Mime seems like any other Mumbai restaurant.
Every seat in the place is taken with a multitude of customers waiting eagerly to be seated; the mouth-watering scent of exquisitely-prepared, delicious Indian food permeates every corner of the restaurant. The guests’ chatter fills the restaurant, a low hum in the background, mixing with the sounds of the blenders and the knives chopping in the kitchens.
But on second glance, several key differences are easily noticeable about Mirchi and Mime.
Although the guests are speaking, the waiters and cooks are not. They’re gesticulating, rapidly signing questions and answers to the guests, who respond with their own gestures. No words are exchanged between the guest and the server, but regardless, both are engaging in an active conversation.
That’s the special part of this restaurant: all the staff has hearing or speech impairments.
Mirchi and Mime is a newly-opened Indian restaurant in Mumbai, India, which serves both delicious food and social inclusivity. It features an 80-seater bar and grill and is currently rated one of the top ten restaurants in Mumbai; but more than that, it is an attempt to make a difference, to celebrate their staff’s immense talent and diversity and encourage others to accept this diversity as well.
That’s the special part of this restaurant: all the staff has hearing or speech impairments.
Diners are encouraged to use the easy-to-perform gestures detailed in their menus—gestures like five fingers touched to one’s throat, to indicate the fifth item on the desserts list, or a simple chin-tap with one’s right hand to indicate their appreciation. As great of an experience as dining at Mirchi and Mime is for the diners, it’s just as greater for the servers, instilling them with a sense of confidence and providing them a feeling of being accepted that’s difficult to get otherwise.
In fact, this sort of supportive community is difficult to find in the United States. Deaf and speech-impaired people experience employment discrimination, in spite of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; over seventy percent of individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing are without suitable employment and thus rely on government programs for survival. But what the actual problem with the treatment of deaf people and speech-impaired people in the United States is the lack of awareness about deaf culture.
This is shown through the push for oralism, a focus on teaching lip-reading and oral speech in the education of deaf children, over manualism, a focus on teaching American Sign Language (ASL) in the education of Deaf children.
Most people don’t realize that deaf and hard-of-hearing people should not be forced to be taught how to lip-read so that they can be like abled people. It’s important to recognize—and appreciate—that they’re not, in fact, like abled people. This is why we should try to incorporate measures like encouraging abled people to learn ASL so that they can embrace the beautiful, diverse deaf culture in the same way that Mirchi and Mime is embracing this culture.
