Programme launched to incorporate Braille into restaurant menus

AMMAN — Several restaurants in Amman are set to offer menus in Braille thanks to an initiative launched by the Higher Council for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities (HCD), aiming to encourage the private sector to make their services accessible for users with disabilities. 

Organised in cooperation with the Jordan Food and Drug Administration, the Friendship Association of the Blind and Nidal Kalha Restaurants, the new initiative builds on the provisions of the 2017 Law of People with Disabilities.

“It is very encouraging to see the private sector coming forward to make their services available for persons with disabilities only a few months into the endorsement of the law,” HCD Secretary General Muhannad Azzeh told The Jordan Times in an interview on Monday.

He explained further that the role of the council is to train organisations on how to make their information accessible, and assist them in finding the necessary resources according to the provisions of the law. 

“This is a great step, but much more needs to be done if we want all services to be available to everyone,” Azzeh continued, stressing that “virtually every entity both in the private and the public sector needs to take action and provide resources in Braille and sign language — especially the media, hospitals and cultural entities”.

“This initiative is not just about the menus — it is about the right of persons with disabilities to be and feel independent,” he expressed, adding that “everyone should be able to use a service without having to depend on anyone to help them”.

Several blind and visually impaired individuals in Jordan have voiced their frustration over the lack of accessibile services when dining out, stressing that restaurants have not adapted to their needs.

Rana, a 21-year-old with visual impairment, expressed her feeling of frustration at not being able to have a dining experience like that of any other person due to the lack of accessibility at restaurants. 

She told The Jordan Times that “one of the pleasures of dining out is to browse the menu, consider the available options and choose what we like best — but we don’t have that choice”. 

“My father is blind, and whenever we go eating outside, he gets frustrated,” student Ibrahim Awwad shared, pointing out that “the issue is not just the fact of not being able to read the menu, but the waiters’ lack of ability to assist a blind person”.

“It is true that it is the sign of a good service for the server to go unnoticed at the table, but when assisting a blind person, they should verbally communicate with them,” Awwad continued, adding that “some of them even avoid speaking directly to him [Awwad’s father], as if they forgot that he can still hear them and talk to them”.

“If they are ever uncertain about something they should just ask that person without assuming that someone else speaks for them,” Awwad added.

“Every organisation providing a service should put the person first and then their disability, letting them have the experience of any other customer,”​ he concluded.