After applying to more than 200 companies and getting rejected by all, a restless Adhika Prakoso confided in his childhood friend, Ms Santoso, who jumped at the proposition of starting a cafe and suggested that they rope in a common friend, Mr Trierwinsyah Putra.
They settled on a cafe that exclusively employs deaf people and decided to call it ‘Kopi Tuli’ (Deaf Cafe).
The Indonesian Law on Disabilities, passed in 2016, bars discrimination in the hiring process and mandates businesses to allocate 1% of their workforce to people with disabilities.
Given their past experiences and struggles, the trio positioned Kopi Tuli as a bridge between the deaf and the hearing. It would be a place to promote sign language and to empower deaf people, so they can be economically independent.
They spent the following weeks learning how to become a barista, attending classes at various coffee roasters and cafes.
At the start, they could only read their instructors’ lips, which was a problem if the instructors were talking too fast, standing far away on a stage or simply not facing the students.
“We had to go up to the instructors and explained to them that we are deaf and asked them to repeat what they said slowly,” Mr Putra said.
Even then, miscommunication was abound, as some words look the same to a lip-reading deaf.
Another problem arose when the instructors demonstrated a technique while speaking at the same time, dividing the deaf people’s attention.
Also, they could not hear the sound their machine made, and had to touch and feel it to know if it was doing its intended tasks.
Kopi Tuli opened its doors on May 12 last year, its logo is the Indonesian sign language for “coffee”.
It became an instant hit among the locals in the budding residential area, which has so far remained untouched by well-established cafes and restaurant chains.
Here, no music is played in the background and no Wi-Fi is provided, as the co-founders wanted to encourage people to chat and communicate. However, board games are provided.
Mr Putra designed the menu to guide both the hearing and the deaf to place their orders.
Just months later in October, the three co-founders opened a second outlet, where sign language classes are held.
They have also been invited to speak at universities and corporate events to share their story, in hope to shed light on discrimination.
Ms Asri Alyani, 23, who works at Kopi Tuli, said even when companies do hire people with disabilities, they often do not get the same opportunities as their able-bodied peers.
According to the Ministry of Manpower, out of 136 million working age population in Indonesia, 21.9 million have some form of disabilities but only 10.8 million are employed.
However, Mdm Maulani Rotinsulu, chairman of the Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities, noted that the figure does not distinguish between people with disability who work in the formal sector and those who work in the informal sector.
The number of people with disability who are formally employed as a full time worker may be less than 1 million. She also suspected that the formally employed ones only have mild forms of handicap.
The co-founders of Kopi Tuli hope their venture will encourage companies to start hiring people with disabilities, and inspire people with disabilities to empower others.
Watch the video below to know more about Kopi Tuli.
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 12 October 2019