Since 2016, Scope has been actively working with fellow disability services provider genU to make its services communication accessible.

The Communication Access project has achieved some great milestones so far.

Milestone 1: Piloting communication access and achieving accreditation

Improving the communication accessibility of a large organisation takes time, so it is important to establish what works for them before full roll-out of a tailored Communication Access program.

The Scope team conducted a pilot project at three genU sites to test what would work for them. These sites were:

• Eastern Hub
• Central Intake
• Head Office.

The project started with a series of mystery customer evaluations. Scope employees with a lived experience of communication disability went and evaluated the communication skills of reception staff at the Eastern Hub, Central Intake and Head Offices, face-to-face and by phone.

This was followed by focus groups with key staff from these sites. They worked with Scope to design customised communication tools. These tools would be used to help staff to communicate effectively with customers with communication disabilities.

Next, the ‘Talking at genU Communication Book’ was developed, which can now be found at the reception desks at the three pilot sites. This picture-based communication book has pages dedicated to communicating the services they offer, as well as pages designed to give directions for each site (such as room and place names).

Frontline reception staff then received Communication Access Training, to ensure they had the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to interact with customers who use different ways to communicate.

Finally, there was only one thing left to do at the pilot sites – and that was the important task of carrying out the Communication Access audit process to check that genU met all the standards.

In August 2017, Scope officially awarded the Eastern Hub, Central Intake and Head Offices with the Communication Access Symbol, and issued each with a Communication Access Approved User Licence.

This means customers can go to any of the reception desks in those three locations and expect to receive excellent service – regardless of how they choose to communicate.

Milestone 2: Rolling it out

Now that the process has been tested and deemed a success, it’s time to think about spreading the good work!

genU is currently in the process of customising more ‘Talking at genU Communication Books’ and setting these up at other reception desks.

More of their staff will undergo Communication Access training, to ensure communication access standards are spread far and wide across the organisation. At each new customer service point, Communication Access assessments will be conducted to award the Communication Access Symbol to each additional site.

If you’re interested in finding out about how your organisation can be accredited with the Communication Access Symbol, contact Scope on 1300 4 72673 or email communicationaccess@scopeaust.org.au