Being Disability Aware in Customer Service (hospitality)
Overview
Understanding the needs of different customers including those with disabilities and being able to adapt your responses, is a vital part of delivering great customer service and ensures you create an accessible and inclusive environment for all. The module focuses on improving service delivery for customers with a range of disabilities and emphasizes the need for businesses to adapt their practices to better accommodate customers with disabilities and ensure they feel valued.
This module starts with developing an understanding of the terminology to use that avoids indicating discrimination. The module mainly uses the term impairment as this is often more acceptable. Learners are invited to put themselves ‘in the shoes of the customer‘to experience how visual and hearing impairments may impact a customer. Responses may have to be adapted when welcoming customers depending on the type of impairment, and the adapting the principles of The Hospitality Welcome is considered, along with the importance of accepting service / assistance dogs and carers that may accompany a customer with an impairment.
The module then focuses on 3 key types of impairment: physical, sensory and non-physical or cognitive. Physical impairments considered include other types of mobility issues other than wheelchairs and making areas accessible along with identifying and responding to dexterity impairments and facial disfigurements. Adapting responses is a key message when communicating with customers with sensory impairments, including consideration to colours and fonts used in written communication, the level of voice used if a customer has a hearing impairment and learners have a go at trying some sign language! The safety issue of having a PEEP in place is discussed. The module highlights some example cognitive impairments and encourages learners to consider how they respond to these.
Key benefits of this module:
- Increase confidence to deliver great customer service for customers with disabilities
- Be aware of words and phrases that may be discriminatory
- Identify improvements to implement the welcome for customers with disabilities
- Always accept service/assistance dogs and ensure they are looked after
- Ensure the business has a PEEP!
- Be more aware of different types of physical impairment and anticipate assistance
- Don’t assume customers need help – ask first
- Adapt communication for customers with hearing and sight impairments
- Be inspired to learn sign language!
- Identify customers with who appear agitated or confused more quickly and choose positive responses to help them feel comfortable
- Appropriately support customers with long term health issues
- Ask, “What can I do to make your stay more comfortable
Format
The course is delivered fully online and is split into five highly interactive sections. Learners will engage with games, questions and activities that use real hospitality situations to draw out an understanding and learn from a video and case studies, finishing with a quiz to ensure points are remembered and understood. The module may be completed in short sections over a period of time or all at one go! In addition, there are links to websites and documents that can be used to research further learning.
Sections include:
- Disability discrimination
- Making customers with disabilities feel welcome
- Assisting customers with physical impairments
- Assisting customers with sensory impairments
- Assisting customers with non-physical impairments
Learning Objectives
- Increase awareness of how disability discrimination can occur
- Identify ways to ensure customers with disabilities feel welcome
- Deliver great customer service for customers with different disabilities
Accreditation
This module is accredited by the Institute of Hospitality with CPD points
Who Should Take This Course?
The module is suitable for ‘front facing’ team members, supervisors and managers working in different types of hospitality including hotels, restaurants and bars along with Conference and Event venues. Ideally the module should be part of an induction programme, but it is successfully used at any point during employment to meet a specific need to drive up standards of customer service in teams or with specific individuals.
The module will contribute to the off the job training hours for team members undertaking a Level 2 Hospitality Team member apprenticeship or a Level 2 Customer Service apprenticeship.
Test
At the end of the course, learners complete a 24-question quiz in the same style as the learning activities (drag-and-drop, single choice, multiple choice). The pass mark is 80%, with unlimited retakes available.
Post-Module Action Plan
Completing training doesn’t always mean that action and change happens! Learners can download our unique actions plans from within the module and complete a series of questions which help learners to apply the information in the module to their workplace and identify areas where they need further information or training. Managers can use the action plans to discuss with individuals or their whole team not only to organise additional information to drive customer service improvements.