Hearing-impaired twin sisters open silent coffee shop
In the silent world, communicate with people with smiles and sign language, and make every cup of coffee with heart. The mellow aroma of coffee is full of warmth and love.
In Taicang City, Suzhou, a new "silent coffee shop" was recently opened. The shop was very quiet, only the sound of coffee being cooked and cups being passed.
The owner of this store is a pair of twin sisters, the elder sister is Yan Yingfeng and the younger sister is Yan Yingkai. They have suffered from congenital hearing impairment since childhood.
The sisters worked hard to learn coffee making skills with the help of the Taicang Disabled Persons' Federation and caring people, and started the coffee shop.
Recently, in order to facilitate communication between the hearing impaired and customers, the sisters also specially designed and produced sign language playing cards.
In an interview with Ziniu News, the sisters said that their common dream is to open more silent coffee shops to help more disabled people like them realize their dreams.
Ziniu News reporter Zhang Birong Video source: The interviewee provided the reporter to shoot
1
school days
Realised he was deaf at the age of four
study hard to get into college
The reporter came to the Silent Coffee Shop of Shanaiyijia, the New Workers Cultural Palace in Taicang City, and met twin sisters Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai, who were busy making coffee for customers.
Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai, born in 1994, suffered from congenital hearing impairment since childhood.
"Actually, we couldn't hear when we were born. Our family knew it at the time, but we didn't realize our deafness until we were about four years old." Sister Yan Yingfeng told reporters, "Our parents sent us to kindergarten to train our language skills. Years later, I still can only read the mouth shape, but I can't speak. The kindergarten teacher touched our neck with his hands to help us practice the pronunciation, but because we couldn't hear it, we couldn't accurately find the pronunciation position, so we practiced many times. I still only speak two or three simple words." In 2002, Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai came to Kunshan Love School, "receiving special education in the school, learning sign language and some daily courses." The sisters worked very hard in their studies. , and later admitted to Nanjing Senior High School for the Deaf.
The sisters said that they were able to be admitted to the Nanjing Senior High School for the Deaf, thanks to the careful guidance of the teachers in the school, "After high school, the classmates in the class are all hearing-impaired people, everyone is very friendly, and they will help each other in study and life. The teachers still talk to us every once in a while, and it feels like a family." The study life in high school was very hard and stressful, "Before the college entrance examination, we were very nervous, and my father encouraged us to relax and be positive. After listening to my father’s words, our mentality improved a lot. At that time, we applied to three universities, and all of them were admitted. After discussing with my father, our sisters chose the School of Special Education of Beijing Union University.” After entering the university, the sisters majored in Visual communication design.
"When I was a child, I lived in an old house and often went to play in the fields. The golden wheat was very healing. From then on, we often came up with the idea of wanting to paint, and usually liked to draw some cartoon characters."
The sisters told reporters that they are very grateful to their parents for their hard work over the years, "I got sick once when I was in high school, and my father was very worried about me, so he took the bus from Taicang to Nanjing alone, took me to the hospital to see a doctor, and took care of me in a mess. Dad is really nice to me." Yan Yingfeng said.
2
after graduation
From retoucher to barista
Start a silent coffee shop
In 2019, after graduating from university, Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai went to Suzhou to find a job at the recommendation of their classmates. The first job was as a retoucher in a technology company in Suzhou.
"At work, I mainly focus on computer design, and I almost don't have time to draw." Soon after, the sisters switched to a local network company in Taicang to engage in art design.
Recently, the sisters learned to make coffee with the help of kind people and opened their own coffee shop.
Because of the design foundation, the sisters did the interior design of this coffee shop themselves. The cartoon characters "Xiao Shan" and "Xiao Ai" painted on the walls of the shop were designed by the sisters themselves.
"Xiao Shan" and "Xiao Ai" are both endorsement dolls dressed in the costumes of Shan Ai Yijia Silent Coffee. "Xiao Shan" means to use the kindness of people in society to support the sky of the disadvantaged groups and support the splendid dreams of the disabled.
"Little Love" holds a torch surrounded by love, which means that the love for the disabled burns like a flame that will never go out.
As a new employment model for the disabled, Silent Coffee expresses the great love of gathering society and embodies the connotation of small acts of kindness and great love.
Yan Yingfeng told reporters that when he thought of starting a business and opening a coffee shop, he signed up for the barista training.
Although they encountered a lot of difficulties, the sisters did not give up, and eventually they learned something and successfully obtained the barista qualification certificate.
“Being a barista is not an easy task for the hearing impaired. Ordinary people can tell how well the milk is heating and whisking by listening to the shrieks of the milk frother, but we can only use Feel the temperature of the milk with your hands, and judge the degree of foaming with your eyes." The sisters said that after repeated practice of grinding, brewing, and latte art, they finally mastered the whole process of coffee making proficiently.
"We want to prove that we are no worse than ordinary people." Yan Yingfeng's eyes were full of determination when he said this.
"After I became a barista, I wanted to make a cup of coffee for my dad, but my dad didn't like coffee very much, so I made a cup of milk tea for him to drink." Yan Yingfeng said.
Now, Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai have their own coffee shop. They feel very happy and full of confidence in their future life.
The reporter saw that in this silent coffee shop, many people who work nearby will come here to order a cup of fragrant and delicious coffee.
Citizen Ms. Sun chose to come to this silent coffee shop during her lunch break, and wrote the name of her favorite coffee on the electronic handwriting board in front of the bar.
In this store, the barista communicates with the customer using an electronic tablet in front of the counter. The customer writes down the drink they want and displays it in front of the barista.
The silent coffee shop has set up barrier-free devices such as graphic prompts related to ordering, barrier-free voice-to-text equipment, and electronic handwriting input display panels, which are convenient for baristas to communicate with customers.
At the same time, the store has also set up barrier-free live broadcast equipment, so that baristas can also promote coffee making skills through the online platform.
In addition, there are sign language learning corners, cultural and creative board games, intangible cultural heritage dough sculpture displays, etc. The video scrolls the sign language teaching content, which is convenient for customers to order in sign language.
Although they are hearing impaired, Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai have won praises from many customers for their skillful coffee making skills and warm service.
"Not long after the store opened, we met a customer who was a foreign friend. After ordering, he expressed his gratitude in sign language, which moved us very much." Yan Yingkai said.
3
Looking to the future
Uniquely designed sign language playing cards
Hope to help more disabled people
At present, Shan Ai Yi Jia Silent Coffee Shop has helped more than 20 disabled people find employment.
Gao Mei, the project leader of Shan Ai Yi Jia Disabled Persons' Home Project, said: "Silent Coffee Shop is one of the disabled entrepreneurial projects identified by Shan Ai Yi Jia Disabled Persons' Home after preliminary market research. We hope that with the help of a platform like Silent Coffee Shop, more people will pay attention to the hearing-impaired and pay attention to their dreams of employment and entrepreneurship.”
Gao Mei told reporters that since she started her career in helping the disabled, she has come into contact with many hearing-impaired people. Like ordinary people, the hearing-impaired people love life and are versatile. She hopes to further help the hearing-impaired people realize their entrepreneurial dreams through disability assistance measures. realize self-worth.
The words "Take your time, I'll wait for you" are posted at the prominent position of Shanaiyijia Silent Coffee Shop.
"When they work hard with their backs to the customers, the hearing-impaired baristas cannot give timely feedback on the needs of the customers. Therefore, we hope that every customer entering the store can show more patience and respect to these hearing-impaired baristas." Gao Mei Say.
"My sister is very lively, while I am more quiet." Yan Ying told reporters with a smile.
In life, the sisters like to watch movies together, and their families are very supportive of their work.
When talking about their future plans, Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai said that while building a silent coffee shop, they hope to help more disabled people enter the industry, and at the same time, let more ordinary people understand sign language through silent coffee shops. , focus on the hearing impaired.
In order to allow the hearing-impaired people to communicate better with ordinary people, Yan Yingfeng and Yan Yingkai spent almost a month designing and producing sign language playing cards. Each playing card has a sign language graphic drawn on it, which is convenient and easy to remember. .
The sisters feel warm and confident in helping people with disabilities.
They said that they hope to open more silent coffee shops in the future to help disabled people realize the value of life!