Accessibility Policy

This Policy has been established pursuant to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA). Our dental office will use reasonable efforts to ensure that its policies, practices and procedures are consistent with the following principles:
• Respecting the dignity and independence of persons with disabilities.
• Giving persons with disabilities an opportunity equal to that given to others to obtain, use and benefit from the dental services available in our office.
• Integrating the provision of dental services to persons with disabilities, unless an alternate measure is necessary, whether temporarily or on a permanent basis, to enable use of or benefit from dental services available in our dental office.

Our Mission
__________________________is committed to providing excellent oral health care to all of the patients we serve including those with disabilities.

Our Commitment

In fulfilling our mission, _______________________________ strives to provide services to all of our patients in a manner that respects their dignity and independence. We are committed to giving people with disabilities the same opportunity to access our services. If necessary we will work with persons with disabilities to assist them in identifying alternative means to access dental services.

Communication

We will communicate with people with disabilities in ways that take into account their disability. We will train staff members how to interact and communicate with various types of disabilities.

We are committed to providing fully accessible telephone service to patients and their families. We will train staff to communicate over the telephone in plain language and to speak clearly and slowly. If we are advised that telephone communication is not suitable for an individual, we will aim to provide an alternative means of communication that take into account their disability.

We will provide invoices to all of our patients. Invoices will be provided in alternate formats upon request. We will answer any questions about the content of the invoice in person or over the telephone in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Service Animals

We welcome people with disabilities and their service animals. Service animals are allowed access to the areas of our premises that are open to the public. An animal is a service animal if it is readily apparent that the person for reasons relating to his or her disability uses the animal, or if the person provides a letter from a physician or nurse in accordance with Section 4 of the AODA.

Support persons

A person with a disability who is accompanied by a support person will be allowed to have that person accompany them on our premises. At no time will a person with a disability who is accompanied by a support person be prevented from having access to his or her support person while on our premises.

In accordance with ___________________________________ Privacy Policy, support persons will be asked to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of personal information related to the provision of dental-care services provided to our patients.

Notice of temporary disruption

In the event of a planned or unexpected disruption of services or facilities for customers with disabilities __________________________________________ will notify patients promptly. We will provide notice that will include information about the reason for the disruption, its anticipated duration and a description of any alternative services or facilities if available. The notices will be placed at the entrances and reception counters. The notice will be given in accordance with requirements under Section 5 of the AODA.

Training of Staff (also see definitions and Appendix A page 4 and 5)

____________________________________ will provide training to all employees, volunteers and others who deal with the public or other third parties on their behalf.

Training will be provided to new staff members during an employee’s orientation and will be provided by the Office Manager.

Training will include:
- An overview of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the requirements of the customer service standard.
- How to interact and communicate with people with various types of disabilities
- How to interact with people with disabilities who use an assistive device or require the assistance of a service animal or a support person.
- How to locate and implement our office’s policies, practices and procedures on accessibility standards.
- What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty accessing our dental services.
- How to obtain additional information on assisting people with disabilities, available through Ontario’s Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Accessibility Directorate Website: http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/accessibilityOntario/.

Staff will also be trained, on an on going basis when changes are made to these policies, practices and procedures.

Feed Back

Customers who wish to provide feedback on the way _______________________________________ provides goods and services to people with disabilities can be done by telephone, in person or by mail.

All feedback will be directed to the attention of the Office Manager ______________. All complaints will be addressed according to our organization’s regular complaint management procedure as outlined in our office manual

Modifications to this or other policies

Any policy ____________________________________ that doesn’t respect and promote the dignity and independence of people with disabilities will be modified or removed.

Date on which this Policy has been put into effect: _______________________________

Signature of Office Manager: _______________________________________________

Definitions

Dignity: Service is provided in a way that allows the person with a disability to maintain self-respect and receive respect from other people.

Independence: When a person with a disability is allowed to do things on his or her own without unnecessary help or interference from others.

Integration: Service is provided in a way that allows the person with a disability to benefit from the same services, in the same place and in the same or similar ways as others, unless an alternate measure is necessary to enable a person with a disability to access goods or services.

Equal opportunity: Service is provided to a person with a disability in such a way that they have am opportunity to access goods or services equal to those given to others. Appendix A

1) Patients requiring the aid of walkers, wheelchairs and motorized scooters will be permitted to enter our dental office with these aids.

2) When possible patients requiring assistance transferring into the dental chair will be provided with such assistance provided this action does not pose possible injury to the staff member.

3) We will read any information posted to patients who are not able to read or are visually impaired.

4) For those patients who are deaf or hard of hearing we will provide information to those patients in written form.

5) Paper and pens will be provided to any patient who indicates they are in need of them.

6) All communication with patients who have an intellectual and/or developmental disability either verbally or written will be done in plain language without technical terms.