Respectful Interactions Training
Suppose for the moment that your organization deals with the public all the time, and in your heart you know that some of the staff don’t handle “disability” well at all. How can you build a commitment to ensure that none of your customers or employees experience discrimination based on having a disability?
Answering that question resulted in Respectful Interactions: Disability Language and Etiquette, a new product and service specifically designed by Northwest ADA Center to help organizations improve their treatment of and respect for people with disabilities. Using a train-the-trainer approach, the new package provides everything needed by supervisors and managers to work effectively with their staff. The lessons are based on proven approaches to building awareness and sensitivity to disability issues.
An early December 2009 request for assistance to Northwest ADA Center from a public entity presented the issue:
“We have had a few incidents among staff members that have alerted us that we have discrimination occurring toward colleagues who have handicaps. We are concerned that there may also be inappropriate interactions with clients that we don't know about.
“We want to raise awareness of disability issues and set professional standards of behavior across the district. We believe the best way to accomplish this is to train a group of facilitators (one selected from each office) who will go through your training They will return to their offices and facilitate discussions with smaller work groups (less than 20 people each). In those conversations they will strive to raise awareness and communicate our behavioral expectations.
“Essentially, the group you are meeting with needs to leave with a better understanding of the issues related to disabilities. We want them to become comfortable enough with the topic that they feel confident leading these conversations and will know how to identify and interrupt any inappropriate language.”
Northwest ADA Center Director Don Brandon and Jo Fleming, Washington State Program Manager, designed the product, keeping in mind that they needed to create an environment that modeled a professional attitude about disability and providing services. They knew from experience to get there they needed to confront participant attitudes about disability.
“We are not here to change minds or to be politically correct. Today we want to ask you to give yourself permission to look at disability in a different light.” -- Don Brandon, Northwest ADA Center Director.
“Lasting change, personally or professionally, always starts on the inside and works its way out,” says Brandon. “You can’t change your behavior until you change your mind. And you can’t change your mind unless you give yourself permission to change what has been stored and sanctioned as truth in your sub-conscious mind.”
The four-hour training session weaves together questions about disability etiquette and knowledge, disquieting video interviews highlighting issues of sensitivity and discrimination, and scenarios that put participants into situations requiring disability finesse. Jo Fleming designed much of the dazzling technical effects and curriculum materials.
“Interacting with people with disabilities,” offers Fleming, “can make some people uncomfortable because of misunderstanding, misperceptions, or unfounded attitudes.” She focused on creating a flexible curriculum, professionally prepared visuals and handouts, a facilitator’s guide, all designed to help a manager with little experience in disability issues become an effective change agent.
“You are going to be training people:
- Who are captive to misinformation
- Who may have never considered who or what they think about disability
- Who feel awkward or anxious about talking to someone who has a disability
- Who might have belligerent attitudes that they’ll defend
This training is designed to mess with, stir up, reveal, improve, cleanse, and support our thinking about disability.”
--Respectful Interactions facilitator’s guide
Respectful Interactions offers respectful, practical advice on serving customers and working alongside colleagues who have disabilities, and it builds an understanding that not all disabilities are apparent. Participants begin to relax as they see ways to handle what had previously seemed to be awkward and un-nerving situations. Those who have allowed themselves to rethink “disability” begin to see solutions.
Midway through the training an interesting phenomenon occurs. Participants who have disabilities talk more openly about their experiences. For many in the training, hearing the comments by their peers makes the training much more personal. In creating a “safe” environment to discuss charged issues, the facilitators have illustrated an important lesson that is not lost on the future trainers.
According to Brandon and Fleming, future plans include exploring how the content of Respectful Interactions might be shared through a webcast or a distance education format. Interested in bringing Respectful Interactions to your business? Contact Northwest ADA Center at 800-949-4232.