We appreciate the intent to provide employment opportunities to disabled members of the community and be inclusive, however we see several issues with your branding and business model, and we are concerned with the negative impact those issues will cause. This letter was written by a neurotypical ally, along with an autistic community member who is multiply-disabled.

We ask that your business enact the following changes, to make your business more inclusive and welcoming to the very people ABLE Coffee Roasters aims to "help" and have based the bulk of your business model around…

The Name...

The name “ABLE Coffee Roasters” uses your disabled employees as a marketing tool, focusing on the fact you’re employing disabled members of the community, as opposed to creating a truly inclusive environment in which they can thrive and not be othered.

In content on the ABLE Coffee Roasters website and in press surrounding your business, it has been implied that your employees are “able” to work only because of the existence of your business and would not be able to be employed elsewhere. This is not necessarily true. We ask that ABLE Coffee Roasters consider a business name that does not exploit the existence of its disabled employees by making them the focus of your business’ brand.

The Logo…

The autistic community has been outspoken about how harmful and demeaning the puzzle piece is. The puzzle piece has historically been associated with multiple autism-based organizations, none of which involve autistic leadership and all of which have been involved in creating and furthering the negative stigma attached to autism.

Many of these organizations continue to engage in these actions. Predominantly, the puzzle piece has been associated with Autism Speaks - an organization which your business has partnered with in the past - and is widely considered by the autistic community and their allies to be harmful.

Your business claims the business’ logo is not intended to solely represent Autism, because the business also employs people who are otherwise disabled. However, due to the history of the puzzle piece, it is impossible to see it in the context of your business and not associate it with autism or the negative stigma carried by the symbolism of the puzzle piece.

Your business claims it is trying to bring new meaning to the puzzle piece and claim the logo represents different communities coming together, but if you went out on the street and asked 100 people what a blue puzzle piece symbol represents, a majority of the responses would be related to autism and/or autistic people.

Your business claims to be inclusive and caring about the community. How is it being inclusive or showing your business cares, if ABLE Coffee Roasters continues to use a symbol as part of its logo which is grossly offensive to a large portion of the autistic community, while also tying much of the business’ brand to “helping” autistic and otherwise disabled people? We ask that ABLE Coffee Roasters use a logo which is truly inclusive and not offensive to the very community your business allegedly supports.

The Language… 

Your business uses person-first language when talking about autism. The autistic community and disabled community both largely prefer identity-first language (i.e. preferring “autistic” to “person with autism” and “disabled” to “person with disabilities”). People shouldn’t need to be reminded that disabled people are people any more than someone needs to be reminded that a parent is a person.

Would you refer to your mom as “someone with motherhood”? That’s how silly “person with autism” sounds to many autistic people. Autism is a filter through which every aspect of life is experienced. To suggest that filter can be somehow separated from or turned off is denying an autistic person’s lived experience.

Using the euphemism "special needs" when referring to disabled people. Disabled people need food, water, air, clothing, shelter, stability, security, acceptance, and social relationships, plus access to education and employment (when applicable)... the same things everyone needs. While some disabled people may have additional support requirements, that doesn't mean their needs are "special". This euphemism is very othering and puts a stigma of burden on disabled people.

“Disabled” and “autistic” are not bad words. By declining to use the chosen words of our communities, your business is erasing the experiences its employees go through. We ask that ABLE Coffee Roasters changes the language the business uses, when referring to both its employees and the autistic & disabled communities.

Phrasing on the business' website and merchandise is ableist:

• The slogan: "The World Needs More Able" (on the merch page) implies there should be less disability/disabled people in the world.
• The slogan: "Drinking Coffee is My Behavior" implies it's a vice and that "behaviors" are vices. Behavior is communication, so why would it be a negative thing for someone to communicate?
• The slogan: “Half Human Half Coffee” may seem innocuous and even amusing in some circumstances, but when coupled with the other ableist slogans, phrasing, and language involved in this business, it comes off as dehumanizing and has the potential to subconsciously suggest disabled people aren’t whole humans.
• The statement: "We... are confident that each individual is capable of being a functional part of society" implies that someone without a job has no function, which couldn't be further from the truth. Every human has at least one function in society and that is to share love; to love and be loved. That love serves as a function to those who love them and/or for those they love.
• Per the business' website: "...employers, as generous as they were to help the special needs community..." Why is employing disabled people considered "helping" the disabled community and why are employers considered "generous" for hiring disabled people? Are they helping people who aren't disabled, by employing them? Are they generous for hiring people who aren't disabled? This phrasing is incredibly demeaning.

The Ties to ABA…

ABLE Coffee Roasters is clearly ABA-themed, despite how vocal much of the autistic community has been about the trauma endured because of ABA therapy, resulting in PTSD for many autistic people.

By using ABA-related terms for menu and merchandise items, the business is not being welcoming or inclusive. Additionally, by tying the terms “positive reinforcers” to traditionally healthier food items and “negative reinforcers” to traditionally “comfort” items, the business is subconsciously creating a negative relationship with food for all customers. We ask that references to ABA and "behaviors" be removed from all menu and merchandise items.

Per the business' website: “...by creating tasks that are repetitive and simple to master, such as weighing, packaging, labeling coffee, our employees will be able to generalize newly-mastered skills at their ABLE job and incorporate them into their daily lives.” Are employers using ABA to teach these skills? If so, we ask your business to stop implementing ABA into the training of your employees.

The Lack of Disabled Voices in the Business’ Creation...

With regard to both branding and the business model of ABLE Coffee Roasters, what type of consulting was done with the autistic community? With otherwise disabled communities? With the disabled community at large? Was consultation independent of the business and those involved with the business? How extensive was it? Clear and direct answers to these questions are important.

When asked if your business consulted disabled individuals in the branding and structure of ABLE Coffee Roasters, the response was:
“We have a great team of educators who worked for years in the field of special education to ensure we are supporting and accommodating our workers to be successful in the workplace.”

When asked how much employees are paid and if disabled people are/were consulted in the pay, treatment, and supports for disabled employees, or if disabled people were consulted with regard to marketing language or symbols utilized, the response was:
“All our employees start at minimum wage per California standards. We are a small company and our management team is fairly small currently, although we have a great team of educators who worked for years in the field of special education to ensure we are supporting and accommodating for our workers to be successful in the workplace.”
This response did not actually answer the question about consultation, and was incredibly dismissive and deflective.

ABLE Coffee Roasters claims to promote “Autism Awareness”, while the autistic community has largely moved away from performative “awareness” and has embraced acceptance as a measure of true inclusivity. Of what are you making people aware and how is that actually helping the autistic community in a positive manner, instead of just building your brand?

Your business has also claimed it is fully supported by “autism advocates”. Autism is not synonymous with autistic. Many aspects of your business come off as insensitive and demeaning to the communities you aim to help, as well as being exploitative of disabled employees (using their employment as a marketing gimmick)… all of which could have been avoided through independent consultation with members of the disabled community.

Taking the aforementioned points into consideration, we are asking for ABLE Coffee Roasters to involve disabled individuals, independent of the current business structure, in the process of helping redesign the business to better represent and serve the communities upon which it has been built.

Disabled community members have too long been spoken over and pushed to the side until their existence is convenient for the rest of the world. It is time to listen to the communities ABLE Coffee Roasters claims to support and allow disabled people to have control over how they are represented.