Signing for a coffee and croissant

By MAGGIE WICKS

Walk past your average Auckland cafe and you might guess a person gesticulating frantically to staff is an unhappy customer.

But a new eatery on the corner of Dominion and Balmoral Rds is by no means your average cafe.

Get a bit closer and you'll notice entire tables of coffee-sippers gesturing furiously - and the waiters are giving as good as they get.

But there is no argument here: the Star Sign Cafe, in the foyer of Auckland's Deaf Society, is New Zealand's first sign language cafe.

All the serving staff are deaf, as are most of the punters.

To order a coffee you'll have to make grinding gestures with your fists. A swish of the hands followed by a hand signal to your neck will produce a flat white.

And for customers who can't sign, there are pads on the counter to scribble your order down.

The counter staff will even offer you a New Zealand finger-spell alphabet guide.

Plus the friendly staff and customers alike are happy to teach you a couple of signs to get you by.

The Star Sign Cafe opened just over a month ago and is already generating interest within both the deaf and hearing communities.

Cafe manager Angus McDonald says most deaf people don't go to regular cafes because they don't feel comfortable there.

He aims to provide employment for deaf people who are discriminated against, and also to build their confidence so they can go on to work elsewhere.

The cafe was inspired by other deaf eating establishments overseas, such as a deaf cafe in Paris and a deaf KFC in Malaysia.

However, these establishments are run by hearing people so the Star Sign is possibly a world-first cafe - owned and run entirely by deaf people.

Mr McDonald, who is a member of the Auckland Deaf Society committee and has a background in hospitality, plans to move the cafe to more prominent premises on Parnell Rise within a few months.

- THE AUCKLANDER