Universal design concept for blind people

in
Frontier restaurant. Abq, NM.
Recommendation Report for
Frontier Restaurant
Presented to Mr. John X, Supervisor

Proposed on

April 30th 2016

By Anil Sharma Kandel

Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................4
Methodology & Criteria.................................................................................................5
1: Used statistics to find out the number of blind people in New Mexico..5
2: Observation of blind people in different Restaurants..6
3: Researched in Internet.7
4:. Brain Storming...7

Results...........................................................................................................................8
Option 1: Allowing blind people with navigation trained dogs and cats inside the restaurant:8
Option 2 : Making an alternative table menus for Visually impaired people9
Option 3: Menus with Audio system and the separate small path for the cane users9

Discussion............................................................................10
Conclusion & Recommendation..............................................................................11

Citation...........................................................................................12

Abstract:
This recommendation report is written for Mr. John X, after considering his request for writing a
recommendation letter to his restaurant named Frontier in order to increase the profit of his
company. After reviewing his restaurant's annual report and the total sale of this year, I came
to a conclusion of suggesting him to adopt Universal Design for blind people in his restaurant.
Four different things were done independently to find the way to increase the profit of his
company. Research from internet, brain storming, using statistics and so on were the kinds of
method which are used to find out the best universal design concept inside the restaurant for
blind people.
Three different options were got after completing the successful research and by the usage of
critical thinking. The best option among three was, making small path for cane for navigation
and the audio menu system. This option was considered the best by looking at reliability of
different option and also by comparing the expenses of all three options.
It was discussed that the universal design concept was not only helpful for making good
profit, but was also helpful for making the good reputation of the restaurant and also for
increasing the good will of the company. Hence It was best suggested for him to consider the
option 3 of the result section to increase the profit of his company.

Introduction:
Living life as a blind person is not that easy. They perceive the world in different way
as other people would do. Though they perceive world differently, their preference,
interest, attitude and so on are the same as other people. But they are not given the same
right and facilities in the places where the general people are utilizing their full freedom. It
is estimated that there is more than 100,000 people in United States who are blind
(bostonglobe.com) and the SSI office states that New Mexico has 53,773 people have got
their disability benefit which included disabled and blind people(ssi.gov).

Your restaurant, Frontier, is famous for New Mexican food all over the country.
People from different state come to your restaurant to try the New Mexican food. Despite
its popularity, I feel that your restaurant is only focused on the people with good physical
condition and does not have any kind of service to the people with blindness. There have
been a lot of instances where visually impaired people are not helped and are treated the
same as other general people of the society with sound physical condition. Due to the that
kind of treatment, people with visual imperative get lost inside your restaurant and would
have trouble finding seats and also have trouble ordering food from counter, which make
them feel dominated and sometimes, it also affect their self esteem. As per the annual
report that you had given me for review, frontier was doing good at the initial phase of its
business but when more people knew about it then all kinds of people started coming there
including disabled people. The lack of capacity of your restaurant to make your place
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accessible to all kinds of people, has significantly dropped the profit of your business, as per
the audit report that you have showed me. The sales of the food in frontier has not been
increased in this course of time but can be increased drastically by improving the service in
the favor of visually impaired people. The purpose of this writing is to come up with the
most efficient ways to design your restaurant so that the visually impaired people can also
enjoy the food and the friendly nature of your restaurant. At the end, I recommend the
following things in order to make Frontier accessible to everyone; A small lane for the blind
people inside the restaurant to navigate different areas inside restaurant. The menu should
be put in audio system, and also should be put in Braille alphabet too. It was hard for me to
find out the procedures needed to carry out this project. After a long patience, I came up
with some idea to find out the solution to the problem.

Methodology:
I used the following procedures which helped me to carry out my project:

List of

1. Used statistics to find out the number of blind people in

New Mexico:
2. Observation of blind people in different restaurants
3. Researched in Internet

Methods 4.Brain Storming

1. Find Statistics:

Used some governmental sites in internet: After a long research about the population of
blind people in New Mexico, I came across to many of the governmental sites in the
internet like ssa.gov, disability.gov and so on where I got to know to know about the
population of blind people in USA and also inside Mew Mexico, This helped me to
think about the importance of a friendly and peaceful place like Restaurant for the blind
people in Albuquerque.

Online Chat with Governmental Official: Since I was surfing on the internet to find more
information of the statistics, I luckily find some the sites that hold live chat service for the
individual who are willing to answer the question of people who are interested in knowing
more about the blind people. I asked them the questions like, How many blind people are
there in New Mexico? Do all the blind have family support, Do blind people get the
disability check? If yes then, is that money sufficient for their living? I got very good answer
from the officials. I got to know that they dont have exact record of number of blind
population and yes, they do get paid disability benefit and he did not told me how much
they got paid but he told me that they get paid well, which is good for their livong.

2. Observation of blind people in different Restaurants: After my visit to various restaurants

in Albuquerque like Saggios and Mc donalds, I found out that blind people struggle the most
in certain places of the restaurant like the counter, hallway and while leaving the
restaurant. I found out about all those struggle by paying attention on how they walk, how
do they travel inside restaurant, how do they order their food and so on. And as I was asked
to write the recommendation report for Frontier, I realized that if you would modify your
restaurant do that it would be accessible for the blind people, then your problem of profit
drop of your business would be totally solved and you will start making a lot of profit again.

3. Researched in Internet: In order to imply the universal design concept in your restaurant, I

started researching about the ways to make it a kind of restaurant, which would be
appropriate for the people with disabilities. I researched on the sites like dinersjournal.com,
yelp.com and so on to find my information. Though I could not get the actual technique to
make your restaurant appropriate for all kinds of people, I got some important knowledge
about how blind people interpret the environment using their own kind of technique.

4.Brain Storming: After researching a lot about the concept that would make your

restaurant accessible to the visually impaired people, I came up with the idea of using some
the very unusual system, that rarely any of the restaurants uses, which would help the blind
people to navigate through your place and would also help you to gain more profit from
your restaurant.

Results:
After my detailed research about universal accessibility of the restaurant, I found out that
there is not a lot of restaurants in Albuquerque who was adopted universal design concept.

Option 1: Allowing blind people with navigation trained dogs and cats inside the
restaurant:
After researching for a while about the blind people and their lifestyle, I found out that
most of the blind people take dogs (sometime cats too) with them wherever they go. Those
animals will be especially trained to help people to navigate different places. Hence they
are always expert in navigating blind people just with simple training and also with little
knowledge of the surroundings. Hence if those dogs and cats are allowed to get inside with
the blind people, it will help the blind people to nativage your restaurant more easily and
would also help you to go new business.

Option 2 : Making an alternative table menus for Visually impaired people:

Since visually impaired people can't read the general kinds of writing , they need special
menus ( have to be written in Braille method) to help them get informed about the
different varieties of food that are served in your restaurant. A bilingual server should be
present to assist them to different areas of the restaurant and also with the food and other

special drinks that are served in your restaurant. That way, they would not feel the sense of
getting lost inside the restaurant and would also get their own choice of food.

Option 3: Menus with Audio system and the separate small path for the cane users:
If the small path of about 5 inches is made in all the areas of your restaurant, with the name
of the part of restaurant in big Braille letters (big enough to be felt and understood by the
cane while walking) in the starting of the part and junction between the part, then the cane
users can simply follow that path and can go whichever part of restaurant they want. And if
the audio menu is added in the order counter, then the visually impaired people can just
listen to the list of food that are provided in your restaurant and can make their best
choices best on the food they listen in the audio book. It will not only help you increase
your business but will also help you to get the fame of starting the first restaurant in
Albuquerque with the full accessibility of blind people.

Discussion:

Option 1:
Allowing blind
people with
navigation trained
dogs and cats
inside the
restaurant:

Option 2 :

Option 3:

Making an
alternative table
menus for Visually
impaired people:

Menus with Audio

system and the
separate small path
for the cane users:

When the above results are put into action and when all these technique which are being
discussed in Result section are executed, then your restaurant would be perfectly accessible
to the visually impaired people. That means, people from different places would be
knowing about the universal design system that you have put in your restaurant, which will
help your restaurant to gain popularity in the whole country. And since your restaurant
would be popular, people would come to your restaurant just to know more about the
design system that you have constructed in your restaurant. This design system not only
helps you to make more profit but it will also raise the goodwill of your restaurant. That
means, your restaurant now can be sold in much higher price than in the condition when
you did not have universal design concept in your restaurant. Basically, this concept would
benefit both parties that are involved in this business, i.e, The customer would be
benefitted by getting to use the latest concept of universal design and you will be

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benefitted by maximizing the profit of your business and also by increasing the goodwill of
your business.

Conclusion and Recommendation:

Hence, I suggest you to use the universal design concept for blind people in your restaurant
for the better profit in your business. Though you have three options to choose from, I
suggest you to use the third option of Result section because, the usage small path for
navigation would reduce your expense of hiring a bilingual server to help them inside the
restaurant and the usage of the audio menu seems to be permanent and long lasting as
compared to the written menus for ordering of food. Hence if you consider the third option
of the result section, your universal design concept can be run in small economy and would
be more reliable than other options. My name is Anil Sharma Kandel, Ph no 1111111.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the content of the report or if you need
any other information, ideas or suggestion for making you restaurant universally
acceptable. I would be more than happy to help you out with your problem.

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Citation:

1. State Statistics, December 2010. -New Mexico. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.

2.

"The Totally Blind, Unable to Perceive Light, Are Often Afflicted with a Rare Sleep

Disorder - The Boston Globe." BostonGlobe.com. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.

3.

"NMCFTB." NMCFTB. Goverment. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.

Glossary of terms:
1. Goodwill: Intrinsic asset of the company which increase the monetary value of the business.
2. Cane: The white stick used by blind person to navigate.
3. Universal design: Design plan appropriate for people with any kind of diabilities.

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