One in seven people in Ontario have a disability. It is anticipated that the number of people with a disability will rise as the population ages.
Ontario is the first jurisdiction in Canada to introduce disability legislation. The purpose of the legislation is to ensure accessibility to goods, services, facilities, employment, accommodation and buildings for persons with disabilities. The Ontario government will therefore develop, implement and enforce accessibility standards (regulations). These standards place obligations on individuals and organizations that provide goods and services to members of the public and will have an impact on how you conduct your business.
Accessibility Standards for Customer Service
The customer service standard is the first standard developed under the AODA. This standard requires organizations to develop policies and practices relating to the delivery of goods and services to people with disabilities. The standard also requires, among other elements, that relevant training be provided to staff that interact with the public.
Accessible customer service is about understanding that people with disabilities may have different needs and taking their disabilities and needs into consideration when providing them services.
If you or your employees interact with the public or if you or your employees are involved in your organisation's development of policies, procedures or practices regarding provision of goods or services, the law applies to you. The Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services has developed tools and provides tips on how to serve and interact with persons who have disabilities. The legislation imposes several requirements on individuals and businesses operating in Ontario. The most important aspects of the customer service standard are the need for businesses such as yours to:
- Develop customer service policies and procedures for serving people with disabilities. If you have 20 or more employees, the policy and procedures must be documented/written.
- Make reasonable efforts to ensure your policies, practices and procedures are aligned with the core principles of independence, dignity, integration and equality of opportunity.
- Establish a policy and practices for allowing individuals with disabilities to use their personal assistive devices when accessing your goods or services or take into consideration any other methods or approaches that can be used to enable individuals with disabilities to access your goods and services.
- Communicate with a person with a disability in a manner that takes into account their disability.
- Allow individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by their guide dog or service animal in those areas that are open to the public.
- Allow individuals with disabilities who are accompanied by a support person to bring that person onto premises that are open to the public while accessing goods or services.
- Ensure you provide appropriate notice for any facility or service disruptions.
- Train your employees on the requirements of the legislation.
- Establish a process for persons with disabilities to provide feedback on how you provide goods and services.
- When providing documents, take into consideration the individual's disability and ensure the documents are provided in an appropriate format.
- If you have 20 or more employees, file an annual report with the government.
Training
The legislation requires that training be given to everyone who might be expected to interact with the public and anyone who develops policies, procedures or practices regarding the provision of goods or services for your organization.
The eLearning module available on the Ministry of Community and Social Services' website will help you better serve customers with disabilities. If you provide service to Ontarians, you and your employees are expected to take the eLearning module to familiarize yourself with the requirements of the legislation and to fulfill your regulatory obligation. Ensure that you document the date and time the training was taken by you and your employees. The training is available at the following link:
If you do not provide service to Ontarians or you do not have any business in Ontario, you are strongly encouraged to take this training anyway. The training will strengthen your understanding of servicing customers with disabilities.
The Ministry's website also provides tips and tools to help you better interact with customers who have disabilities.
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