We Can All Use Some Tips

Posted by Jill Browne Apr 6, 2007

Sometimes government agencies produce marvellously useful things.

For example, a little nugget in the Summer 2006 Newsletter of the Accessible Transportation Directorate, part of the Canadian Transportation Agency, was entitled Best Practices for Tourism Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities. I've written about the article, and included a link to it, in Tips for the Service Industry.

As I read through the government's article, it occurred to me that it was a real shame this piece wasn't more widely available. Much of the advice would be good for all of us to read, whether we work in the tourism industry or not.

For example, many people don't know that you should not pet or interfere with a service dog while the dog is working. Or that a person in a wheelchair might appreciate being given a clipboard if you are asking them to fill out a form. Do you have clipboards available with the forms?

And - and this is a frequent complaint - it's rude to speak to an assistant or aide when the customer is present. In England they used to have a radio program which made this point quite nicely in its title, Does He Take Sugar? But we all make mistakes and it can be perfectly well-meaning and innocent.

This short guide answers the most basic of questions, which are often the ones we either are embarassed to ask or just don't even think about. While it is intended to help in training people in the travel business, hotels, tour operators, and so on, it is a good read for anyone. After all, very few of us are not going to be disabled to some degree at some point in our lives. We may lose our hearing, vision, mobility - who knows? It would be nice if everyone around us knew automatically how to help us continue on independently and with dignity.

On the flip side, each of us meets people with disabilities almost every day. We take it for granted that the way we are communicating is the "right" way. The checklists in the article test those assumptions and give some guidance for situations when we aren't quite sure what to do.