Canadian Transportation Agency - Accessible Transportation Directorate Provides Tips
In the Summer 2006 Newsletter from the Canadian Transportation Agency's Accessible Transportation Directorate, there is an article (the last one in the newsletter) entitled Best Practices for Tourism Service Providers for Persons with Disablities.
This article contains twelve sections, each directed at improving the level of communication and service for customers. Some of the information would also be helpful for customers to use in making up their own travel checklists.
Good Service Takes a Customer's Needs Into Account
No matter what the industry is, anyone who works with the public is going to have some customers who are disabled. The disability may be mild, and the customer may not ask for special attention, but there are still ways in which the service worker can make the customer more comfortable. This article on best practices is full of suggestions for helping people with special needs.
The twelve sections are:
- a general suggestion that tourism service providers take steps to make their enterprise accessible and barrier-free, including staff training, website accessibility, as well as on-site barrier-free design
- making points of service accessible through good physical design
- best practices for serving persons with any sort of disability
- serving customers who are blind or visually impaired
- serving customers who are deaf or hard of hearing
- serving customers with mobility impairments
- serving customers with speech impairments
- serving customers with cognitive impairments
- general questions to ask a customer when making travel arrangements
- additional things to consider when making travel arrangements
- factors which can affect suitability of travel choice
- a win-win situation: services you can offer.
Details Can Help Make a Trip Go More Smoothly
This newsletter article is particularly detailed and useful. For example, in the section on Some additional things to consider when making travel arrangements, there are items which a traveller or their assistant might not think of, particularly if they don't travel very often. These include asking whether the traveller has special needs, such as finding out whether the customer:
- will need a refrigerator in the hotel room to store medication
- will remember to bring medication in her carry-on luggage
- will need a special meal on board the plane
- has electrical equipment which will need power to run, or to recharge - and if so, is it compatible with the electrical service at the destination.
These are just a few examples of the level of detail in this checklist. While the piece is meant to guide people who operate tourism businesses and those who work with the travelling public, it is a very good place to start for anyone who wants to provide better service to their customers.
