How do you sign Frappuccino? You can find out at the new Starbucks signing store in Washington, D.C. The coffee shop—the first of its kind in the United States—is staffed by deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing employees who are all fluent in American Sign Language (ASL).
Workers wear “I Sign” buttons and aprons with the word Starbucks spelled out in ASL. Customers can sign or write down their orders, and when their drinks are ready, their names appear on a screen at the end of the bar. There’s no music, and the store—which used to be a standard Starbucks—has been remodeled to maximize light and remove anything that would limit visibility for people who are signing. (That means no high tables or tall stacks of cups.)
When it opened, members of the deaf community applauded the store. Roughly 1 in 20 Americans are deaf or hard of hearing.
Says Howard Rosenblum, an official with the National Association of the Deaf, “Starbucks has taken an innovative approach . . . that will increase employment opportunities as well as accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, while at the same time educating society.”