The UK needs more cafés that employ people with Down Syndrome

By Maria Gomez de Sicart

Lorna and Lauren grinding the coffee at Café 21 in Leeds. Credit: Sunshine and Smiles

It might be an average coffee, but it is not an average service.

Down Syndrome charity Sunshine & Smiles has opened 21 Co. Café, a coffee shop in Headingley, Leeds that only employs people with Down Syndrome.

It is the second coffee shop in England to do so. The Novel Coffee Shop in Southend became a pioneer in April 2018.

“It is important for everyone to feel valued. People with Down syndrome have the same right as anyone else to be able to work and to be paid for that work,” says Ailith Harley-Roberts, service manager at Sunshine and Smiles.

Café 21 gives 16 to 24-year-olds with Down Syndrome the opportunity to work and get trained in the kitchen or front of the house. It provides them with work experience and allows them to gain new skills, confidence and independence.

Although, it is still rare to see people with Down Syndrome working in coffee shops and other establishments in the UK.

The United States, on the other hand, seems to be taking the lead as there are more than 30 American coffee shops, such as Bitty & Beau’s in North Carolina and Hugs + Mugs in Illinois, which employ people with Down Syndrome.

So do Tebessüm Café in Istanbul (Turkey) and Downtism Café in Tehran (Iran).

“I hope that we are encouraging others to think about creating a more diverse workforce and that other businesses in the industry will consider employing people with Down syndrome,” says Ailith.

“There is a huge gap in the number of people with a learning disability who have any paid work compared to the typical population. Around 17 per cent for those people with a learning disability compared with 75 per cent of the typical population,” she concludes.

What the next steps might be is up to you.

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