Jul 12, 2009 - 04:32 AM

By Jillian Follert

OSHAWA -- What's the best way to help someone with a visual impairment fill out a form? Or answer a question for someone who can't hear?

If you ask the city's accessibility advocates, they'll tell you there are no hard and fast rules.

"The best customer service training you can have is to stop and think before you act and ask before you assume," said Cyndie Sproul, chairwoman of the Oshawa Accessibility Advisory Committee. "We're all individuals, and we all have individual preferences."

Ms. Sproul speaks from first-hand experience -- she is visually impaired and uses a guide dog to navigate the world.

Whether it's getting help from a bank teller, using a debit machine at a check-out counter or ordering from a restaurant, she has a set list of requests that make it easier for her -- and the people helping her -- to get things done.

"Just ask me," Ms. Sproul says.

Asking customers how they prefer to be helped is just one of the things City of Oshawa staff will learn as part of new customer service training that focuses on the needs of people with disabilities.

As of Jan. 1, 2010, new provincial regulations will require all staff at public sector organizations -- municipalities, school boards, colleges, universities and hospitals -- to have completed accessible customer service training.

Oshawa council recently approved a series of new accessibility policies, including how the training will be carried out.

Tom Hodgins, the City's commissioner of development services, said all City employees, right down to firefighters, recreation centre staff and cleaners, will be trained this fall. Training will vary depending on each person's job, but will generally involve three hours of instruction.

Topics will include how to interact with people who use an assistive device or service animal, how to use special City Hall equipment designed to help people with disabilities and how to interact and communicate with people based on various types of disabilities.

As of Jan. 1, 2012, the Province will extend the requirement for accessible customer service training to all providers of goods and services with at least one employee, such as stores and non-profit agencies.

"Eventually this training will be on people's resumes, if you want to be hired, it's something everyone will have to have," Ms. Sproul said.

An estimated 15 per cent of Ontarians have a disability, a number that is expected to jump to 20 per cent in 2025, which means Oshawa will be home to about 30,400 people with a disability 15 years from now.