The project’s aim was to increase awareness, locally and nationally, of menu accessibility for people with visual impairments. They wanted to make ordering food a pleasure for everyone, not just sighted people.
This project was a continuation of that of the 2011 YSI team. The 2012 team had heard a lot about the progress of the previous year’s group and wanted to help them finish that work. In 2006, the community of Cashel introduced the Gold Star Initiative; the Gold Star Task Group works to assist the local community in ensuring all premises and activities are accessible and welcoming to all. The YSI team wanted to bring something innovative to the existing Gold Star Initiative.
They realised, after communicating with the Task Group, that customers with visual impairments don’t have enough access/independence in local restaurants. They wanted this to change. The 2011 group spent a lot of time designing a restaurant package for local restaurants. In 2012 they decided to continue on this work and develop it further. Some restaurants had taken up the challenge the previous year but a lot more work was needed to develop the idea further.
The Action
They worked closely with members of the 2011 group; they decided they wanted to make the entire town of Cashel fully equipped with accessible menus, not just the pilot restaurants. They also decided they would make an official DVD showcasing Cashel as the model town for menu accessibility. With the help of the following partners - National Council for the Blind, Cashel Gold Star Task Group, local restaurant owners and the Restaurant Association of Ireland, they successfully introduced accessible menus in all restaurants in Cashel.
They supplied all restaurants with official stickers indicating that the restaurant offers accessible menus. They set up a monitoring team who were to ensure that the accessible menu concept was fully integrated. They held an information day distributing leaflets locally.
The Impact
They hoped to develop the project on a regional and perhaps even national level; the “Do You Want Braille with That?” template could be used for similar projects in Ireland. They hoped that by late April they would have the launch of the official DVD; they hoped that this initiative would make it very easy for restaurants in other towns and counties to see how menu accessibility can be achieved. They hoped to get help from the Irish Tourist Board to help the idea grow further.
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