The store has made itself a haven for the deaf community in Greensboro over the past two years. Two of its 10 employees are deaf, and half know sign language, said general manager Erica Shanahan.

"I didn't know how it would go at first," said Shanahan, who learned sign language within a few months of hiring the store's first deaf employee. "But I love it. Deaf people come here to eat and feel comfortable, which is kind of neat."

Kelle Owens, executive director of Greensboro's Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, said Bruegger's is one of a few companies in the area that are open to hiring the deaf. UPS and the United States Post Office are others.

Owens said the store's young employees likely spread the word in the deaf community that the store was open to hiring deaf people -- and serving them.

Assistant manager Crystal Bryant, who is deaf, said her transition into her job when she was hired seven months ago went smoothly.

"Here they already had experience with the deaf. ... The customers are more open-minded," she said.

At her previous retail position, some customers questioned her ability to work.

"They would say 'Why are you working here? You can't hear,' " she said.

In the past three years, the store has moved up two notches and ranks in the top half of Bruegger's 140 national stores.

Alicia Price, the first deaf person that Shanahan hired, said many people do not understand that deaf people can communicate with the rest of the world.

"They are not aware of the logistics," Price wrote in an e-mail, referring to the ability to read lips.

She works as the executive director of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of Davidson County.

As for customers, "I think some of them were a little nervous at first because it was their first experience being around a deaf individual -- but after a while it was fine, and they all got used to being around the deaf."

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not track the number of deaf people who are employed.

Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., which focuses on educating the deaf, estimates that 8.6 percent of Americans have a measurable hearing loss, and 0.5 percent have significant hearing loss and depend mainly on sign language to communicate.

That translates to about 37,750 people who are hard of hearing and 2,200 with significant hearing loss in Guilford County.

Glenda Torres, coordinator of a program at UNCG that trains students to interpret for the deaf, said interest is growing in learning about the deaf and hard of hearing.

When UNCG started the interpreter training program in 1993, eight students enrolled. Today there are 88, she said.

She emphasized that deaf students are enrolled in majors throughout the school.

"I really applaud Erica (Shanahan)," Torres said. "She was able to look beyond that someone was deaf. She saw their skills and work ethic and ability to interact with the public."

That ability to interact with the public is what Bryant, who signs and speaks simultaneously, thrives on.

The outgoing 23-year-old said she doesn't want to live a closeted life, spending time only with other deaf people.

"I didn't want to do that," she said. "We live in a hearing world."

By Marta Hummel
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