Natalie Te Paa's birthday was made a little sweeter by the staff at Luciano by Gino D'Acampo.
Te Paa recently went to the London restaurant to celebrate her birthday, along with her friend Claire Sara. Te Paa is blind, and when the restaurant staff learned it was her big day, they surprised her by looking up online how to write "Happy Birthday" in Braille, and then using melted chocolate to put this message on a plate.
Te Paa was stunned, telling Today that she's had plenty of people sing to her in restaurants, but no one has ever wished her a happy birthday in Braille. "It just blew me away," she said. Sara posted a video online of Te Paa and her birthday message, and it has been viewed by millions.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It's Te Paa's hope that this will inspire other restaurants to be more inclusive of guests. "Blindness is not easy," she told Today. "There are a lot of times that you do face discrimination, you do face things that are challenging and tough and difficult. So the fact that they did this for us really opened up a conversation of awareness."
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly TuttleFeature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitionsFeature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
