Blind man creates braille menus for sister's cafe
BBCA man who has been blind since birth has developed menus written in braille for his sister's cafe.
Tobias Finnie from Coventry said he loved what his sister Maddison Grey had done at Mad About The Buns on Nickson Road in the city, adding he came up with the idea because most restaurants did not offer one.
"Ninety-nine percent of restaurants don't have a braille menu, which is not following the Equality Act, which states reasonable adjustments should be made," he said.
Converting the cafe's menu into braille was not an easy task and took more than two weeks, because all items had to be read to him word-for-word by his mum or sister and transcribed. Other restaurants have since requested his services.
Finnie said he was busy making them three days a week and could add another day to his rota, if there was enough demand.
The 23-year-old said he would eventually like to start his own business, creating braille menus for the hospitality industry.
The addition of a braille menu at Mad About The Buns was inspired by a regular at the cafe who needed assistance.
"We'd help him read the menu and then Toby was like 'oh, why don't I make a braille menu'? And everyone's loved it ever since," said Grey.
She said she was proud of what her brother had done and the interest it had created.
"Ghetto Grub in Nuneaton popped in and we've had Kitchen 126 (in Coventry) inquire as well."
And she said making the menu accessible was important.
"Everyone says 'everyone needs to be treated the same' but when it comes to their accessibility on reading the menus, no-one's got an answer for that."
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