Michelle McQuigge
Toronto
The Canadian Press
Published March 8, 2019
A scathing review of Ontario’s implementation of an accessibility law authored by former lieutenant-governor David Onley, seen arriving for his last day in office in Toronto in 2014, issues a withering indictment of nearly all aspects of the law.
ACCESSIBILITY FOR ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT ALLIANCE
NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Under the Customer Service Standard of the AODA, service providers’ policies must include how they will create processes for accessible customer service feedback. These processes must outline how providers will receive and respond to feedback from customers with disabilities about how accessibly they provide goods and services. Accessible customer service feedback ensures that customers with disabilities can communicate with organizations about how well they are meeting customers’ needs.
Under the Customer Service Standard of the AODA, service providers’ policies must state that they welcome support persons. The Standard discusses how service providers must allow support persons in all public places. It also outlines what providers must do to require support persons and how they must advertise when they offer reduced rates for support persons. However, service providers committed to obeying these laws may still have many questions about support persons’ roles, such as what they do and how to tell the difference between support persons and companions.
Under the Customer Service Standard of the AODA, service providers’ policies must state that they welcome support persons. Here we outline support persons law that service providers should follow.
Support persons assist people who have disabilities with a variety of tasks, such as:
• Communication
• Mobility
• Accessibility
• Daily living needs
• medical care
A support person can be a paid personal support worker (PSW), a volunteer, a family member, or a friend. Service providers should always look at and speak directly to a customer with a disability, not their support person, even if the customer is communicating through the support person.
