Caring for Your Environment

How does your organization appear to people with low or no literacy skills who have not used your services before? The image you project is important for first impressions and can be intimidating if it is heavily reliant on the written word.

Help People Track you Down

How do people generally find out about your organization? How do they find your offices? If you advertise, make sure you use simple language and include any logos for your organization that are well known. If there is no room for a simple map showing your location in relation to well- known landmarks, you could tell people that bus number 95 will take them to your door. The same information may be helpful to people who telephone for information and an address. “We're right next to the dry cleaners, across from Lion's Gate Mall,” may be more useful than just a street address.

On the Outside

Take a look at your street level front door signs. Is your street address clearly visible from a distance? Your organization name may be long or complicated, but there may still be simple ways to convey what you are so that people can find you easily. A sign saying “Help for Families” before your official name or a graphic showing a family may be easier for people to identify than something such as “Wentworth County Professional Family Services.”

Where people speak different languages from the majority around them, it may be appropriate to put up signs written in those languages as well as your main language of business. Government offices and community services in Iqaluit use English and Inuktitut on their signs as a matter of course.

How easy is it to find your door? If you're on the fifth floor of an office building, is there a clear sign on the ground floor to direct people to your offices? A sign opposite the elevators on your floor is also helpful, as is an open door policy. It's much easier for all of us to see inside the offices we have to approach instead of having to open a door into a crowded waiting room and look around for something that looks like a reception desk.

On the Inside

How you receive people into your organization for the first time is critical. Once people know you and have met someone in your organization whom they have found helpful, they are less likely to be intimidated by literacy barriers in your information and practices. But until that time, the people who greet newcomers and the processes for your clients and customers, can set the stage for successful or troublesome starts to relationships with the people you serve.

Welcome! - The Reception Area

Make sure the receptionist is visible from your doorway and is able to see people as they come in. If that is not possible, make it clear where people can find the reception desk. Use graphic signs and arrows if necessary.

If you have any say about colours used in reception areas, remember that bright colours are inviting to people but become discomfiting after a period of time. That's why fast-food restaurants tend to use them. Softer colours are easier to take for longer waits.

Try to give people some privacy when they speak with the receptionist. They may want to explain that they can't complete the form they've just received on their own.

First Impressions - Beware the Paper Tiger!

Surround people with posters that say things with pictures rather than words. Keep your organization's mountain of paperwork out of sight of the waiting area. Watch out for bulletin boards crammed with wordy pieces of paper.

Avoid handing people a form to complete as soon as they walk in your door. If completing forms is a must, allow reception staff the time to help people fill them out. “Would you like me to fill this form out with you or would you prefer to do it yourself?” takes the literacy burden off the person using your services. The staff time used then may save trouble and time further down the road.

Your organization may prefer to have forms completed by counsellors. If so, let people know that they can fill out the form while they wait or take it in with them later to work on it with the counsellor.