Staffed with differently able people, “Abey Khao” is Pakistan’s first-ever deaf staffed food truck. The food truck seeks to empower people with hearing disabilities and provides them with a platform, promoting social inclusion and economic opportunity for the differently-abled people in Pakistan.
“Abey Khao” was first opened in F-7 on the Bhitai road and recently partnered with TMUC to open an on-campus food truck. “Abey Khao” signed a memorandum of understanding MoU with the university, and the bright yellow-themed truck can now be seen parked on the campus of the Millennium Universal College.
“Abey Khao” has been featured on multiple national and international platforms. The foodtruck was an initiative taken by a hearing-impaired family, with both parents and two of their children either partially or completely deaf.
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However, daughter and sister, Ayesha Raza, can hear clearly, and she was one of the brainchild behind “Abey Khao.” Talking about why she took this initiative, she said that “the majority of the deaf youth is unemployed in Pakistan, and they face issues like language barriers, inequality, and discrimination,” and her initiative aims to challenge all of these issues.
At the food truck, people can be seen using sign language to communicate with the staff, promoting inclusivity and embracing the deaf culture. To aid the customers in placing their orders, diagrams showing how to express simple phrases in sign language are placed on the menu and on the truck.
It is the brainchild of hearing impaired family, with both parents and their two sons who are either totally or partially deaf. However, daughter Ayesha Raza can hear and she came up with the idea for Abey Khao to give opportunities for her brothershttps://t.co/Ztq5MqTfyh
— IE Lifestyle (@lifestyle_ie) February 25, 2022
Such initiatives that promote inclusion through enabling a fostering environment for the differently-abled people need to be promoted.
According to the Pakistan Board of Statistics, 7.4 percent of the population in Pakistan is deaf. Seemingly little, the percentage accounts for almost ~16 million people with hearing disabilities. Many organizations are working to promote sign language and build an enabling environment for hearing impaired individuals in Pakistan.
Dewa Academy is one of the largest and the leading institutes for this matter which trains students in sign language and educates the hearing impaired students to get intermediate level education. Around the globe, World Deaf Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of September.
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The primary purpose of this day is to spread awareness on how we can work as a nation to make sure the deaf are not secluded from receiving a good quality of life. Let’s hope that this initiative taken by “Abey Khao” is only the beginning of what is to come in a future of inclusivity in Pakistan.