Starbucks’ new technology service helps blind and low-vision customers – Everett Post

By KELLY MCCARTHY, ABC News

(NEW YORK) – Starbucks is making coffee runs more accessible than ever with a new service to help blind and visually impaired customers.

The Seattle-based company announced Monday that it is now offering free access to a breakthrough technology service, Aira, that connects blind and visually impaired people with trained, remote visual interpreters who provide instant access to visual information through a third-party app .

Katie Young, senior vice president of global growth and development at Starbucks, told ABC News’ Good Morning America that innovation came from its core value to create “a culture of value and belonging” and “systematically by location to seek exclusion. ”

Sevana Massih, Starbucks Accessibility Program Manager for Inclusion and Diversity, found the San Diego-based tech company from a blind person and gave Young the idea to test and test the program in less than a year.

Via Aira, a customer can ask the remote agent to describe everything from the store front entrance to the order item and the counter. He reads the menu and describes various options.

“It’s a human connection, it’s an agency. It allows the user to navigate through the stores, which are quite complex and varied – and we have had problems making them accessible in the past, ”said Young. “This is live. It’s real – when it came to us we said let’s control this and move. “

“During the tests, we learned a lot about the community in general and what the journey to accessibility is like for our customers,” said Massih. “We found it to be a really important tool during COVID to help individuals navigate our stores successfully. It gives them the feedback that they are able to. “

Starbucks is the first food and beverage company to offer a broader range of visual interpreting services.

“It was pretty quick that we realized the human impact this could have – and we want to invest in that humanity, and Aira is helping us do that with an independent, equitable experience for blind and partially sighted customers,” said Massih . “We are constantly learning how to get in touch with our customers and listen to their feedback – and ask for their expertise.”

Young said it was “just part of the puzzle” to make customers feel like they were being seen and heard, and the company had allocated resources to encourage more innovation.

“I’m really excited about every format we create, because at the beginning we have inclusion and diversity experts to guide us. At any point, you don’t realize you’re making a choice that might shut someone out, ”said Young.

The coffee chain will be rolling out new large print and Braille menus in all stores in the US and Canada this summer, developed in partnership with National Braille Press.

The company’s app and website have also been updated to provide improved accessibility for people with disabilities.

Over the past year, the Starbucks Accessibility Office worked with its innovation lab and design teams at the Tryer Center to improve the Starbucks experience for employees and customers. It evaluated research and feedback from the World Institute on Disability to ensure the team was collecting data from users with a wide range of disabilities and the disability community.

Starbucks has opened six signing shops worldwide, including Washington, DC. The company said, “serves a prominent community of the deaf and hard of hearing.”

“These stores provide career opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing partners (employees) and provide a distinctive retail experience for deaf and hard of hearing people,” said Starbucks.

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