There’s a place in Hyattsville, Maryland called Streetcar 82 Brewing Co.. You’d expect to walk in and hear music thumping and people talking, but you won’t. Instead, you’ll see people pointing to a taplist, writing notes on their smartphones to show the staff, or writing on a reusable “doodle board”. Streetcar 82 is entirely Deaf-owned and -operated, and the doodle board is a perfect low-tech solution to bridge the worlds of those who can hear and those who can’t. This inevitably leads to a feeling of what founder Mark Burke calls “reverse-mainstreaming”, where the able-bodied (in this case, hearing) person is immersed into the disabled (in this case, D/deaf) world. Sure, he could have accepted people’s offers of assistive technology like tablets and such, but he declined. He says that after starting his business, “I had a ton of companies contacting me... saying, ‘We’ve got this awesome technology... speech to text.’ And I said, ‘No, I don't want that. I don't want people to have to be dependent on technology. I want people to learn to communicate directly with us.’”
Silly me, I’m jumping ahead. Mark started Streetcar 82 with fellow Gallaudet graduates Jon Cetrano and Sam Costner, though he’s currently the sole owner. They decided to name it Streetcar 82, after the streetcar that connected their three homes. It’s a fitting tribute to a business built on the “seeds” of local connection. Mark recalls that the spark for the brewery came from a simple moment of home-brewing to celebrate the birth of his daughter. He shared this beer with people at the hospital where his daughter was born, and they liked it. He continued making beer after this. One day, he shared some with an old professor of his. They liked it, suggested he pitch it as a business idea, and he took them up on that. He won “audience favorite” at Gallaudet’s business pitch contest. That $250 prize wasn’t just pocket change; it was the validation he needed to prove that, as he said in his pitch, “beer brings community together.”
The Gallaudet Connection
Located just a few miles from Streetcar 82 in Washington, D.C., Gallaudet University is the global heart of the Deaf community. Since its founding in 1864, it’s been a leader in bilingual education (ASL and English) and research. For the founders of Streetcar 82—who met as students on campus—the university provided more than just an education; it provided the blueprint for a world designed for Deaf people, by Deaf people. And here’s a fun fact: the football huddle was born here, as a way to keep the other team from seeing what plays your team is planning!
To get back to the picture I was painting earlier, reverse-mainstreaming can feel disorienting, perhaps even a little overwhelming. The staff can’t hear, and the customer can’t sign! How’s anyone supposed to order a beer after a hard day’s work?! But then the customer is handed a tap list they can point to, and the communication barrier is lifted. This is a hearing person’s first step into the “Deaf Ecosystem”. This term arose in the 2010s to refer to “a vast network of Deaf people, organizations, schools, communities, and other social groups and institutions that come together to support one another by sharing resources, money, and opportunities for and by Deaf people.”, according to Nagish.com, a communication platform that makes calls more accessible for the Hard-of-Hearing and Deaf (D/HH) community. The Deaf Ecosystem is about more than just directly benefitting D/HH people; it’s about showing the non-D/HH world what they can offer.
“Deaf people are good workers.” Mark says plainly, “I want to give other Deaf people an opportunity to work in the service industry. You don't often see Deaf employees as servers or bartenders.” Because the staff are all Deaf, Streetcar 82 shows the world that barriers are only as high as we build them. But it doesn’t stop there: it’s provided a “launchpad” for other Deaf-owned business ventures.
Even the brewery’s waste material is a launchpad. Spent grains are tossed out, and one employee decided to use these leftovers to make dog treats. Like Mark before her, she entered a business pitch contest at Gallaudet, and she won. Her treat-selling business is absolutely thriving! And even though a Streetcar 82 job isn’t necessarily full-time, there’s still a lot of experience to be gained. Two of his former brewers—both Deaf—have moved on to become lead brewers at hearing-owned breweries.
“Seeing that kind of success story come out of Streetcar 82 is fantastic.” Mark says, “Folks are going out in the world from here and changing the industry. That makes me feel like we won.”
The taproom’s constantly buzzing. They’re not just selling their own beer, they’re hosting events with multicultural food and unique vibes—the community feel of Bill’s backyard BBQ, the authentic taste of Tacos la Michoacona, the classic comfort of The Burger Shop, etc. It’s a perfect symbiosis: the brewery provides the space and the "reverse-mainstreamed" atmosphere, and the local vendors bring flavors that draw in a diverse crowd. Together, they create each event’s unique vibe.
Mark’s mission says it all: “Beer brings people together.”
Damn right, Mark.
ABOUT the AUTHOR:
Born with cerebral palsy, Mitch Blatt has been working as The Understanding’s Editor-in-Chief since 2019. He knows how tough it can be to navigate a world that wasn’t built for you. When work is done, he’s an avid gamer and world-builder, currently working on a thriller anthology that uses a logically-consistent constructed world to explore the complexities of life with mental illness.
