Shine
15th May 2020
Service with a dimpled smile and a flower
by Zhu Ying
“We want to communicate with normal people, but we fear rejection and we don’t want to trouble them.”
The speaker is 23-year-old Hua Yuxin, who suffers a hearing loss. A barista at a cafe called Lili Time, he goes by the nickname Xiaoyu. For hearing-impaired people, nicknames are more easily expressed in sign language.
Located on Mengzi Road E., the coffee shop employs seven deaf or hard-of-hearing people born mainly in the 1980s and 90s. It offers them an opportunity to step outside their small, silent world and connect with the wider society.