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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Amelia Hill

‘Coffee is just the excuse’: the deaf-run cafe where hearing people sign to order

Screen split into boxes, each with the name of a drink and a picture of a server signing that drink's name.
The video menu at Dialogue Cafe teaches hearing people how to order a drink using sign language. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Wesley Hartwell raised his fists to the barista and shook them next to his ears. He then lowered his fists, extended his thumbs and little fingers, and moved them up and down by his chest, as though milking a cow. Finally, he laid the fingers of one hand flat on his chin and flexed his wrist forward.

Hartwell, who has no hearing problems, had just used BSL, British Sign Language, to order his morning latte with normal milk at the deaf-run Dialogue Cafe, based at the University of East London, and thanked Victor Olaniyan, the deaf barista.

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