Restaurants can be tricky from a hearing and vision standpoint due to the combination of low lighting and noise. There are some workarounds for that, especially now that many restaurants post their menus online or allow orders ahead of time. Familiarity also helps. Once I know where the restroom is, for instance, I don’t have to walk around awkwardly looking for it while trying not to accidentally walk into the kitchen or some other “employees only” area.
Here are some tricks to use. This can be helpful for anyone, not just those with visual or hearing impairments:
Overhead menus – Take a picture of them with your phone and use the camera to zoom in as needed.
Use your phone’s Notes app to write down your order and show it to the person taking the order – I’ve used this in places like Subway to communicate because we have trouble hearing each other on either side of the glass.
Look up menus online – If the lighting is low and a paper menu’s text is small, it is almost impossible to see what it says.
Order through an app – Some restaurants allow you to order and pay ahead of time so you can just walk in and pick up the order without having to struggle to communicate with the cashier in a potentially noisy setting.
These workarounds are with the assumption that you have a smartphone, but it represents the ability to use technology in different ways in order to communicate more effectively. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box!
Comments are closed.