Accessible customer service is important to quality of life for tenants. At the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO), we feel strongly about customer service and the critical role it plays in the day-to-day life of tenants.

Providing topnotch customer service to all renters is one of the fundamental elements of the Certified Rental Building Program (CRBP), which was created by FRPO to help ensure a high quality of life for all tenants in certified buildings. Part of this service commitment is to respect each and every person, may they be tenants with or without disabilities.

What does respect mean? While there are many definitions, in practical terms respect can mean:

• Valuing each tenant;
• Acting with integrity and in a conscientious way with all customers;
• Considering the needs and rights of all tenants and embracing differences and similarities;
• Treating all with politeness, kindness, understanding, and professional courtesy.

Respect is at the core of delivering accessible customer service. It is also a key principle that runs throughout training for CRBP members on ways and means of delivering accessible customer service.

Those who complete the CRBP Accessible Customer Service training receive tips, tools and resources on how to deliver accessible customer service. The instruction includes topics such as the use of appropriate language and the importance of using suitable words when communicating with and about tenants with disabilities. It also includes how to respond to the service needs of tenants with different types of disabilities in sensitive and respectful ways.

However, the Accessible Customer Service course goes beyond providing a host of common sense tips. The training focuses on the importance of understanding, recognizing and acknowledging the differing needs of all tenants and then finding practical and responsive ways to respond to these differences.

According to Deborah Cohen, from PSN, Performance Solutions Network who has been delivering Accessible Customer Service training on behalf of FRPO to CRBP members, “The best way to provide respectful service is to recognize all tenants as individuals; each unique – each with differing needs. Delivering quality, accessible service is based on our ability to acknowledge these differences and to respond to these differing needs, equally. Delivering quality accessible customer service really is about seeing the person not the disability.”

The golden rule “treat others how you would like them to treat you” has particular relevance to delivering accessible customer service. In fact, it forms the foundation upon which landlords and apartment building management should build their relationship with all tenants.

Through the CRBP, we make participants aware of the thoughtful and helpful ways they can make living in a certified rental building more accessible and inclusive for all tenants including tenants with disabilities.

Delivering accessible customer service makes good common sense. Delivering accessible customer service is a matter of respect.