All organisations in Ontario with one or more workers are required by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Customer Service Standard to train their personnel on how to engage with people with disabilities in an accessible and polite manner. Organisations in the public and commercial sectors, as well as all tiers of government, are included in this.
To guarantee that people with disabilities receive the same level of customer service as people without disabilities, the AODA Customer Service Standard was put into place. The standard specifies rules that organisations must follow, including employee training, to guarantee that people with disabilities have equitable access to services.
All employees, volunteers, and contractors who deal with the public or any third parties on the organization’s behalf must get training under the AODA Customer Service Standard. This comprises managers and supervisors that oversee customer service operations as well as front-line employees like receptionists, sales representatives, and customer service agents.
Topics including the AODA and the rights of people with disabilities, how to engage with people with disabilities in a polite and accessible way, and how to react to requests for accommodations must be included in the training.
Additionally, organisations are required to maintain records of the staff training they deliver, including the dates of the training and the quantity of workers that participated. The public must have access to these documents upon request, and they must be kept for at least three years.
Organisations are also expected to make their policies and procedures for delivering accessible customer service publicly available and to make alternative formats of these policies and procedures available upon request, in addition to offering training.
All organisations in Ontario are required by the AODA Customer Service Standard to train their staff on how to interact with people with disabilities in a polite and accessible manner. Organisations may guarantee that people with disabilities have equal access to services and are treated with respect and dignity by offering this training.
