Glossary of acronyms

  • AACs: Municipal accessibility advisory committees
  • AARP: American Association of Retired Persons
  • AFCs: Age-friendly communities
  • AFO: Age-Friendly Ottawa
  • AODA: The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005
  • AQoL: Australian Quality of Life
  • CANSIM: Canadian Socioeconomic Information Management System
  • CASOA: Community Assessment Survey for Older Adults
  • CMHC: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
  • COA: Council on Aging (of Ottawa)
  • GHQ: General Health Questionnaire
  • HiCO: Housing in Canada Online
  • HCoA: Hamilton Council on Aging
  • ICES: Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
  • LEIPAD: Leiden (Holland) and Padua (Italy)
  • MAREP: The Kenneth G. Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program
  • MOS: Medical Outcomes Study
  • OSS: Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat
  • PATH: Partners Advancing Transitions in Healthcare
  • P-E Fit: A person’s ability to age well and independently comes from the relationship between his or her physical and mental capacity and the ‘press’ (i.e. barriers) of their environment
  • QLESQ: Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire
  • QoL: Quality of life
  • QoLQ: Quality of Life Questionnaire
  • QWB-SA: Quality of Well Being Self-Assessment
  • U-FE: Utilization-Focused Evaluation
  • VAN: Vital Aging Network
  • WHO: World Health Organization

Is Your Small Business Age-Friendly?

Attracting and keeping customers in an aging population is essential to growing a business. Think about how to develop different product lines or improve your customer service.

Here is a checklist to help you make sure your business is taking care of the safety, comfort, visibility, clarity and respect of your clients:

Safety:
 Are your entrances clear of street furniture?
 Are your doors wide enough for wheelchairs?
 Is accessible seniors’ parking available close to your premises?
 Do you have sturdy handrails on your stairways and have you marked the stair edges clearly?
 Is your flooring non-slip?
 Do you shelve your most popular items at medium height?

Comfort:
 Do you have seating at lineups?
 Are your service counters accessible to customers in wheelchairs?
 Do you have customer telephones with large-print buttons and ways to increase the sound volume?

Visibility and clarity:
 Are your premises evenly lit?
 Is your signage clear and understandable?
 Have you trained staff to speak clearly and help customers who have vision or hearing challenges?
 Is loud music playing that distracts those with hearing challenges or makes them uncomfortable?

Respect:
 Have you trained staff to avoid condescending behaviour and to be patient and friendly?
 Can your staff identify if a person is experiencing a medical emergency?
 Does your workplace promote an environment of respect among staff and customers, without stereotyping or drawing conclusions from age or ability?

Ask your customers or clients:
 Have you checked with your customers to find out what they see as obstacles?

By the numbers:
 Have you researched the number of older people in your market area and their disposable income to assess the size of your affected market? Visit the Ontario Ministry of Finance website at www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/economy/demographics/ for profile data on each municipality.

Source: ‘Creating an Age-friendly Business in B.C.’ Seniors’ Healthy Living Secretariat, B.C. Ministry of Health, 2011 http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=9B11E8EB06194B0BB4DEC9DFA401825B&title=How%20to%20Become%20Age-Friendly