chennai browsing through the menu is what usually gets your gastronomic juices flowing but in a city thats not disabledfriendly the visually impaired are deprived of the experience thats why some cafes and restaurants have begun offering menus in brailleon world sight day this year grand by grt hotels in chennai launched specially crafted braille menus at its global street food restaurant jhind we have been working to make our hotel more disabledfriendly and inclusive by putting in ramps says vikram cotah chief operating officer grt hotels and resorts so this was the next step facilitated by the st louis institute for deaf and the blind he says adding that it will also be introduced in their other branches chennai got its first inclusive caf in 2012 when vidya sagar launched kalakkal caf in kotturpuram the caf open from 5pm to 730pm on saturdays aims to create awareness about making social spaces inclusive for persons with disability and also give them an opportunity to meet and interact with new peoplewe have a youth programme and the caf is a part of its leisure component where youngsters can hang out says anuradha shankaran coordinator youth programme vidya sagar adding the inclusive hangout is open to all apart from ramps the menu is written in print and in braille has photos of the dishes and the food is affordablein bengaluru homemaker bhavna jain 48 launched om restaurant in 2010 as she felt that there were very few if any vegetarian restaurants that offered tasty simple healthy food but it was a chance encounter with a blind customer that prompted jain to offer menu cards in braille my restaurant is next to enable india an ngo which works with the disabled and many of them used to drop in says jain one day i met a young woman a bharatanatyam dancer who had returned from the us when it was time to place the order she asked for the menu to be read out i felt it was unfair that a person who had accomplished so much and travelled across the world had to depend on someone just to order food says jain who began working with enable to design a braille menu when i first gave it to a girl she was so happy she could read the menu that she began reading it like a book and forgot to actually place her order says jainwhats more the braille menus have been just the baby step forward for many ventures cotah says that they are planning to also put in braille lift buttons at their facilities in tirunelveli and bengaluru jain says launching the menu helped sensitise her employees who began coming forward to help customers one thing led to another we put in a little ramp in front of the building and a wheelchair as some customers find it difficult to reach the restaurant from their vehicle says jain i have also learned a lot from my disabled customers who are