Touching moment blind diner is given a ‘happy birthday’ message written in braille

Restaurant writes ‘Happy Birthday’ in Braille for blind customer and it Leaves Her in Tears

An amazing display of kindness when a restaurant wrote out happy birthday

Natalie Te Paa, a blind singer-songwriter, was in London for her birthday with her friend Claire Sara. The two decided to go get a meal together at a restaurant called Luciano by Gino D’Acampo, did not have any advance notice that she was coming. She and her friend, Claire Sara, stopped into the restaurant after seeing a show together, and Sara informed restaurant employees that it was her birthday.

What happened after they ate their meal surprised them both. The staff at the restaurant presented Natalie with a plate that was written in Braille using chocolate! Te Paa is presented with a plate that has “happy birthday” written on it. Her friend guides her hand to the plate, Te Paa starts feeling the raised dots and, after realizing what it reads, exclaims, “No freaking way! They did not!”

Before when Natalie would celebrate her birthday in restaurants, the staff would sing to her like they do for most birthday guests. But this was the very first time a restaurant had accommodated her disability in such a special way. The staff went to great lengths to celebrate Natalie on her birthday – from looking up how to write the message in Braille to make sure the chocolate was cold enough so it would not melt when Natalie touched it.

“Oh my gosh! Are you kidding me?” Te Paa says, laughing. “That is insane. Thank you so much.”
The restaurant’s general manager, Giovanni Galluccio, explained that they typically use melted chocolate to write birthday messages, but this was the first time a Braille message had been used.

“My mind was blank for a second and then I was like, ‘Is this in Braille? I found it hard to string a sentence together,” she said. “My mind was just going. I’ve never had anything happen like that before. It was wild.”

“What really blew me away was that Claire went to use the restroom and (restaurant staff) pulled her aside and were like, ‘Hey, we were going to write this in Braille, what do you think, would that be appreciated?’ So it was their idea,” Te Paa said. “She didn’t even set it up, it was their idea, and it just blew me away. I’ve never, ever had anything like that happen. They just really did go above and beyond.”

What a sweet moment and a creative way to make this birthday girl feel special and included!
Te Paa, a singer, said she hopes the video will lead to a larger conversation about inclusivity and awareness around blindness and accessibility.

“Blindness is not easy. There are a lot of times that you do face discrimination, you do face things that are challenging and tough and difficult,” she said. “So, the fact that they did that for us really opened up a conversation of awareness. We’ve had comments from restaurant owners and chefs being like, ‘I’ve never thought of this idea.’
“We need to make it more inclusive for people of all disabilities … Being able to learn how to get on the level of the person you’re seeing in front of you. If just one restaurant is inspired to make their service more inclusive, that’s all I could ask for.”

Galluccio said that the restaurant, which has only been operating for a few weeks, was also shocked to see such an outpouring of support.
“We still can’t believe it, how a little gesture that we would do every day went viral, we can’t believe it. We don’t even know how to react to it,” Galluccio said. “Hospitality is about service, about the basics of service, making their day.”

Sources: