Chennai, Aug 27 (IANS): Extending a helping hand to the speech and hearing impaired (SHI) people, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Travel Food Services (TFS) have come together to set up Coffee Box at the Chennai International Airport.

According to the AAI, the Coffee Box will be manned by SHI people and the menu is specially crafted to allow travellers to contribute towards inclusion of the SHI community in the mainstream through a customer-friendly cafe.

"The launch comes as a positive step towards AAI's and TFS' commitment towards inclusion and diversity as well as creating unique employment opportunities for the SHI community," the AAI statement said.

The Chennai International Airport staff, including senior coaches, managers and human resource (HR) personnel, were given special sign language training to help them connect with the Coffee Box team.

According to S. Sreekumar, Airport Director, the AAI has associated with the TFS to create long-term employment opportunities for the specially-abled individuals, thereby uplifting the SHI community.

"Currently, we have 7 specially-abled members as part of the Coffee Box team, and hope to provide opportunities to increase this diverse workforce," Varun Kapur, Executive Director, TFS, was quoted as saying.