Imagine it’s a summer evening, perhaps there’s even a game on, and the terrace where you usually have dinner is very crowded.
In an effort to optimize resources, the menu isn’t brought to each table but is instead displayed in a location theoretically visible to all seated guests.
I say theoretically because I’m making a connection with the detail I mentioned earlier, the congestion in your favorite dining spot. 😊
Now, out of curiosity, how do you feel when you can’t see an item on the menu or when you only see it partially? Like: grilled chicken and salad with… Blanc, you can’t see because someone has blocked your view with vegetables.
Well, that’s how I feel, except I can’t see what’s on the menu at all, not even partially, even when the location is empty.
I feel awkward when the person I’m dining with has to read the menu for me every time.
Considering the people I go out with 😊 are very nice, they go through the menu for me and then start analyzing it for themselves, which makes me feel even more embarrassed.
I’m not complaining about what happens to me, I’m just noting: Things could be done better and more efficiently through simple actions, and most of the time, even cheaper.
For example, in the story I mentioned earlier, how wonderful would it be if restaurants had a QR code that, when scanned, gave you access to the menu, to an accessible menu.
Why did I specify this? Because if the scanning is in the form of pictures, I’ve done nothing; many people still won’t be able to go through the content, especially those with visual impairments.
The restaurant could have many benefits:
It’s less costly to create a QR code for the menu than to print it.
It saves time for the waiters since they won’t have to distribute menus to each table; the QR code will already be there. 😊
And it will make me feel important because it gives me the opportunity to go through the menu on my own, without bothering my dining companion, 😊 without consuming more time before ordering just because we need to read the menu repeatedly.
You might wonder why it’s relevant for the restaurant that I feel important; it’s simple, because it makes me want to come back.
How do you proceed when you find a product/service that perfectly fits your needs? You repurchase it.
When I say it would be good and useful for restaurants to have accessible menus, oh, it sounds grand. But when I say that a QR code is enough and everyone is satisfied because they’ve benefited from the implementation of this action?
It sounds like normalcy.
Well, what do you know, accessibility is normalcy.
For restaurants, I’ll give just one more argument for why having a readable menu benefits both me, a visually impaired person, and them…
Seeing the menu allows me to order more items and a wider variety of dishes.
But because I have to ask for the price of each item, it’s quite an effort, 😊 (I only want what I know for sure and know the exact price of.)
And it’s not that we don’t have money 😊 because, well, Romanian salaries, it’s just about the kind of life we prefer to lead.
#Accessibility_is_not_a_luxury is the chance to have more with fewer resources.
In this case, a menu made cheaply but to everyone’s taste 😊
So, let’s hear it in the comments! How did you feel when the terrace’s crowding prevented you from going through the list of goodies served in that place?
