'Silent' coffee shop lights up life of hearing-impaired youth

"What they need is not a mere job or an income. They also want to feel respected and accepted by others," Lee Shao-hwa, the founder of Rainbow Angel Coffee, said.

When Lee, a native of Taiwan's Kaohsiung city, came to the Chinese mainland in 2011, she never expected she would develop a special bond with a group of hearing-impaired youth.

In 2017, Lee founded the Rainbow Angel Coffee, which hires hearing-impaired youth from across the nation as bakers. So far, the coffee shop has helped over 60 youths with hearing impairment stand on their own financially.