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Unit 7: Support Persons
In this unit, you will learn:
- Who are support persons and how to interact with a customer who has a support person with them.
Support persons
Who is a support person?
A support person is an individual hired or chosen to accompany a person with a disability to provide services or assistance with communication, mobility, personal care, medical needs or access to goods or services.
Personal care needs may include, but are not limited to, assistance with eating or using the washroom. Medical needs may include, but are not limited to, monitoring someone’s health conditions, providing injections and providing support when someone has moderate to severe seizures.
The support person can be a paid personal support worker, volunteer, a friend or a family member. He or she does not necessarily need to have special training or qualifications.
Customers with disabilities must be allowed to use their support persons while accessing your organization’s goods or services on the parts of the premises open to the public or third parties. If your organization charges for admission, you are required to have a policy regarding what amount, if any, is charged for support persons. Advance notification of a fee, if any, is required.
Functions of support persons
The following chart contains some examples of functions performed by support persons:
| Person with a Disability | Support Person’s Functions |
|---|---|
Person who is deafblind |
To guide, to provide transportation and adaptive communication such as tactile or adapted American Sign language, large print notes, print on palm or two-handed manual signing |
Person who is Deaf, deafened, oral deaf |
To provide sign language or oral interpretation services – to translate conversation, not to participate in it |
Person with a learning disability |
To help with complex communication or note-taking |
Person with an intellectual/ developmental disability |
To help with travel, daily activities, prompting medication, complex tasks, or to keep them from dangerous situations |
Person with a mental health disability |
To help with communication tasks such as completing complex forms. To help in environments such as crowded, noisy settings or high-stress situations such as interviews |
Person with a physical disability |
To provide services related to travelling, personal care such as toileting or eating, monitoring medical conditions |
Person with a seizure disorder |
To assist in the event of a seizure, e.g. to protect the individual from falls |
Person with a speech impairment who uses an augmentative or alternative communication system (symbol board, electronic communication system) |
To relay or interpret a person’s communications |
Person with vision loss |
To read or to guide |
Tips on interacting with a customer who has a support person
- A customer with a disability might not introduce their support person. If you are not sure which person is the customer, take your lead from the person using or requesting your goods or services or simply ask.
- Once you have determined who your customer is, speak directly to them, not to their support person.
- Be familiar with your organization’s policies, practices and procedures about providing accessible customer service.
Self-test: Units 4, 5, 6 & 7
Which of the following should you not do when serving a customer who uses an assistive device, a service animal, or a support person?
- Speak directly to the customer.
- Pet a guide dog because he’s so cute and you love animals.
- Request permission to move your customer’s wheelchair.
- Be aware of how to use specific assistive devices offered by your organization.
Answer:
b is the correct answer:
Avoid touching or petting service animals – they are working and must pay attention at all times.
