Deaf Woman Turned Away At KFC Drive-Through Left Disappointed

Woman turned away at KFC drive-through

Malaysia is a generally inclusive society that allows those with disabilities to navigate life with ease. But there are still many areas where improvements can be made, as recently highlighted by a deaf Malaysian woman, who was turned away at a KFC outlet as they were not able to accommodate her request to utilise their drive-through service.

The incident left her teary-eyed, and hoping for better disability-friendly services at the popular fast food chain. After her TikTok video detailing the incident went viral, KFC Malaysia expressed their concern over what took place at their outlet and promised that they would improve their services.

Woman hopes for better disability-friendly services

On 27th October 2021, Aira Meor, a deaf video blogger from Malaysia, shared a video to her TikTok account of a recent experience at a KFC outlet in Malaysia. She opted not to specify where the incident took place, as she wanted to focus on the “disappointing” incident in hopes that changes can take place to help make life for those with disabilities easier.

In the video, with captions in Malay provided as she uses sign language to communicate, she said that she was usually able to skip the remote electronic order station, or screen, at the KFC drive-through outlet. She would proceed straight to the payment area instead, where a staff member would assist her with consideration to her disability while she ordered with the help of her phone in person.

However, that wasn’t the case on her most recent visit.

Image credit: @aira_meor

She was allegedly greeted by a staff member at the KFC drive-through outlet during the visit, who insisted that she enter the store and order at the counter instead.

Almost breaking down in tears, she recounted in the video how she responded after receiving the instruction – by questioning the staff member for not being able to process her order via drive-through, and wanting to know why she needed to go inside to place an order just because she was deaf.

The staff member apologised but again insisted they couldn’t take her order via drive-through, and reiterated that she needed to head inside the store to order her food.

Image credit: @aira_meor

The incident left Aira disappointed, and without any food at the end of her trip. She also expressed in her video that she felt as if her rights as an individual to utilise the drive-through service was disregarded.

To cap off the video, she shared that as a member of the deaf community in Malaysia she wanted her video to raise awareness of what happened and not to single out any KFC outlet or staff member. She hopes that it can instead push KFC to raise their standard of treatment towards their patrons with hearing disabilities.

You can watch Aira’s full TikTok video here.

KFC Malaysia responds to incident, hopes to improve

Aira’s video went on viral on TikTok, as well as other social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. On Twitter, netizen @dania_elanor reshared her video, while also tagging KFC Malaysia’s verified Twitter account and saying, “Hi KFC Malaysia, please do something about this. People with hearing disabilities deserve to have convenience just like everyone else.”

The tweet with the video received over 880,000 views, and over 30,000 retweets.

Image credit: @KFCmalaysia

In response, a representative of KFC Malaysia on Twitter thanked Elanor for helping to highlight the issue in two tweets. In the first tweet, they informed the public that they’ve contacted Aira to apologise, and will be taking necessary actions to address the incident they viewed as concerning.

The second tweet from the fast food chain sent Aira their apologies on behalf of the restaurant’s staff, while promising that they would strive to become more sensitive, and better improve their services for their patrons in the future.

Deaf woman turned away at KFC drive-through

What may seem like a convenience to the able-bodied may be of inconvenience to those with disabilities – as importantly highlighted by Aira in her TikTok video. We applaud her for sharing her experience, so that we can move towards a more considerate, inclusive society that respects and takes into account everyone’s situation.