The View from Where I Sit

Tag: communication

  • The Equality Act 2010 in Customer Service

    Under the Equality Act 2010, customer service providers must treat all individuals equally and fairly, avoiding discrimination, harassment, and victimisation based on protected characteristics.


    Protected Characteristics
    The Equality Act identifies nine protected characteristics that cannot be used as a basis for unfair treatment in services:

    • Age
    • Disability
    • Gender reassignment
    • Marriage and civil partnership
    • Pregnancy and maternity
    • Race
    • Religion or belief
    • Sex, and sexual orientation

    Service providers must ensure that customers are not discriminated against due to these characteristics, either directly or indirectly.


    Types of Discrimination in Customer Service
    Direct discrimination: Treating someone less favourably specifically because of a protected characteristic. Examples include refusing to serve a person due to their ethnicity or sexual orientation.
    Indirect discrimination: Applying a neutral rule or policy that disproportionately disadvantages people with a protected characteristic, unless the rule can be objectively justified. For example, a “no head coverings” policy may indirectly discriminate against customers who wear religious attire.
    Harassment: Any unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that violates dignity or creates a hostile, degrading, or offensive environment.

    Victimisation: Unfair treatment of someone because they made a complaint about discrimination or supported another person’s complaint.

    Reasonable Adjustments for Accessibility
    Service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled customers to ensure they can access services equally. This includes measures such as ramps, alternative formats for written information (Braille or large font), assistive technology, and staff training to accommodate different needs.
    The duty is proactive; providers must anticipate barriers and not wait for requests to be made.


    Practical Implementation in Customer Service
    Inclusive culture: Train staff to respect diversity, listen actively, and respond sensitively to customer needs.
    Policy development: Implement equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies that guide recruitment, service delivery, and day-to-day operations.
    Communication: Use inclusive language, provide alternative communication methods for customers with language barriers, and accommodate cultural or religious practices.
    Positive engagement: Regularly review services to identify potential barriers and improve inclusiveness, potentially conducting Equality Impact Assessments for public or large-scale service projects.


    Legal Scope and Exceptions
    While the Act prohibits unjust discrimination, some exceptions exist, including age-based concessions, health and safety requirements, financial services risk assessments, and single-sex or regulated services where necessary. Any differential treatment must be objectively justified or in line with permitted exceptions.


    Benefits of Compliance
    Complying with the Equality Act enhances the organisation’s reputation, fosters customer loyalty, and demonstrates respect for diverse customer needs. Inclusive practices also attract top talent and ensure fair, equitable service delivery.
    In summary, customer service under the Equality Act 2010 requires fairness, respect, and proactive accommodation of diversity, encompassing all nine protected characteristics, preventing discrimination, harassment, or victimisation, and ensuring accessibility for disabled individuals.


    Legislation.gov.uk

  • Soft Skills

    Technical knowledge may get you the job, but soft skills are what help you grow, lead, and succeed. These personal abilities shape how you interact, solve problems, and adapt to change. Mastering them can transform your career path and relationships at work. Your degree gets you in the door, but your soft skills decide if you stay, grow, and lead.
    Work ethic, empathy, communication, reliability, emotional control—these are the real “cheat codes” at work. Don’t just build a resume, build a character. Hard skills can get you the job—but soft skills help you grow in it.
    Master these 7 soft skills to stand out, lead effectively, and build a meaningful career:
    1. Time Management
    2. Communication
    3. Critical Thinking
    4. Collaboration
    5. Adaptability
    6. Emotional Intelligence
    7. Influence
    Build these daily, and your success will follow.

  • Using Braille as an Accessibility Tool

    Did you know that braille can be used as an accessibility tool? I used to think that braille was only used to help the visually impaired.

    World Braille Day: Raising Awareness for an Important Communication Tool

    Since 2019, World Braille Day has been celebrated to create awareness of the importance of Braille; an access and communication tool that has played a key role in the realization of human rights for blind and partially sighted people.

    Its roots trace back to the 19th century, when in 1829, its blind inventor; Louis Braille created a tactile alphabet in order to be able to read and write, and eventually gain access to education, the news of this increasingly important tool receiving its own international day of recognition could not have arrived at a more relevant moment, as in its third year of celebration (2021). World Braille Day was reinvented by the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.

    Braille is the system of raised dots used for reading and writing by people who are blind or severely visually impaired. It is read with the fingertips, although with practice, people with sight can read it with their eyes. Letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and numerous other symbols can be written with Braille. Although not technically its own language, Braille is a form of code and can be learned by just about anyone.

    On World Braille Day 2022, Direct Access encouraged businesses to facilitate accessible formats as a means of communication as it is the right thing to do for customers and potentially valuable employees who might also be disabled people. Since our post-COVID world has forced much of society to utilise digital media and formats to facilitate communication, shopping, entertainment, and business; digital accessibility is now necessary to ensure the digital inclusion of all people. Braille is essential in the context of education, freedom of expression and opinion, as well as social inclusion, as reflected in article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

    Using the latest Index Embossers, Direct Access can produce Braille in A4 and A3 formats ranging from healthcare or financial letters to legal documents and company brochures. We also provide state-of-the-art tactile map boards that incorporate a multitude of formats including braille, BSL sign language video, and audio descriptions. They are bound according to preference and checked by our proof-readers. This is usually helpful for tactile learners.

    For more information regarding their access and communication services feel free to contact them. 

    Tactile Braille Map Boards – Direct Access (directaccessgp.com)

    https://www.biography.com/scholar/louis-braille

  • DANNY TURNS DOWN THE….

    DANNY TURNS DOWN THE….

    By: Daniella Jade Lowe

    Danny was a young Para-Superhero. Nobody had seen or even heard of a neurodiverse superhero. He had an adaptive costume for all occasions. His wheelchair was faster than the speed of lightning.

    Being born as a Para-Superhero, made Danny quite the ‘oddball.’ He was birthmarked to defy genetic dispositions. He demanded respect wherever he went.

    As a Para-Superhero he always wanted to prove people wrong which made him ambitious.

    ‘A superhero is supposed to save the day,’ he thought.

    ‘How can I save the day as a Para-Superhero?’ Danny thought to himself.

    Unfortunately he inherited the nickname, ‘supercrip.’

    As Danny got older he could not tolerate the stigma that came with being a Para-Superhero. Too many titles from society caused him to lose who he was. As a result, he suffered an ‘identity crisis.’

    Danny already dealt with physical limitations. He didn’t want people’s labels too. It brought intersectionality to his personality.

    The mainstream world saw Danny as ‘privileged’ but ‘abnormal’ when all he wanted was ‘acceptance’ which often led to discrimination.

    ‘What is normal?’ Danny would think to himself.

    ‘Normal is the setting on a dryer!’ he concluded.

    This one stereotype has repeated itself so much that it resounds like a broken record to Danny.

    His mother reminded him, ‘It’s not about what they call you, it’s what you answer to!’

    Stereotypes were his handicap. Danny had two options, either take life lying down or be motivated to live up to his own goals and expectations. So he started a war on stereotypes with archetypes.

    This war included fighting against exploitation of disabilities, deformities, misconceptions, and negative portrayal of disabilities. ‘Disability is not a taboo!’ he said. Inclusion is not a delusion.
    • Heroes don’t need to overcome their disabilities.
    • Wheelchairs aren’t exclusively for older people.
    • We are not “inspiration porn”.
    • Who said you need to walk in order to be a hero?
    ‘Let’s have a ‘big conversation’ on stereotypes,’ Danny exclaimed!
    ‘Stereotypes exist, definitely, but that’s why we should listen to the individual voices of disabled people over non-disabled charity voices’ Danny said!
    Danny says, ‘Let me tell you how to deal with the terrible power of stereotypes.’ ‘Disable the label!’ Assumptions are lazy. Statistics should not affect status.
    • Change the stereotypes. Challenge the ‘status quo.’ Upset the fruit basket. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
    • Buffer the stereotype threat through shifting self perception to positive self affirmation.
    • Reframe the stereotype threatening task as a challenge. See a stereotype as a chance to prove people wrong instead of getting offended over it.
    • Reinterpret the anxiety that comes with stereotype threats. In other words, ‘don’t take it personal’ and make bold steps to overcome them.
    And that’s how Danny turned down the stereotypes!