Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello eyeryone.
You may all be aware of the coronavirus crisis, and its affects on the autistic. Anyone who, like myself, lives independently, needs to regularly shop for food. In recent times, the local Sainsburys stores has introduced a 'priority' time period, usually the first hour of the opening times, so that only the elderly and the vulnerable are allowed inside to get their shopping. I think this is a good idea, but it is not clear what types of people count as 'vulnerable'. Technically, the autistic count as vulnerable because they would not cope well with obstacles such as stock shortages and crowding. Their parents or carers should be admitted as well as they are there specifically to support their needs.
A number of people will have had difficulties with their shopping routines. This is probably because they are used to going to one store only, and I would recommend putting two or three on the list. Anyone that drives a car should start their shopping search at the furthest of the stores. If they get everything they want there, so much the better. If at least one item is unavailable, they should search the next furthest, and/or the closest store to their home, convenience stores included.
Whenever I do my food shopping, I make myself useful to my fellow shoppers by bringing the least accessible shelf items from the back to the front. Supermarket shelves are not vending machines, and when something is taken from the front, the items behind do not move forward. Being 6 feet 5 inches tall, I use my long arms to reach for the less accessible items, especially on the topmost shelf, bring them to the front, and they would be more accessible to a shorter or otherwise less physically able person. These actions could have resulted in the items selling out faster, but because the other shoppers would eventually ask for staff assistance anyway, it wouldn't have mattered if I did this voluntary shelf restacking or not. My focus is on making the most needed items or item types fully accessible, and any items that are on the wrong shelf or shelf section would be moved accordingly.
What do you think of my 'voluntary shelf restacking' idea? If it sounds good, I would recommend that as many forum members as possible do a similar thing at as many local supermarkets or high street stores as possible. Although we should focus on getting what we need, I reckon that we should be equally mindful on what others will need, such as eggs, bread, cooked meats, toiletries and so on. If it means spending, say, an hour doing this restacking during our own shopping sprees, we would be helpful not just to the autistic, but the public in general. We could tidy up any messy shelves if we want to, perhaps put any incorrectly-placed items in the correct places, even if there won't be enough time to tidy or otherwise restack every shelf. If our selected shelves were about to be restacked by the staff, perhaps we should voluntarily assist them - the more people there are doing the restacking, the faster the most needed items would be back in stock, the sooner the staff can focus on restacking other shelves.
This shopping topic may have been discussed a few times elsewhere in this forum, but hopefully my experiences and opinions will be useful to you.
Spam!
I don't know if handling things other people are going to buy is a good idea. It seems like a way to spread anything we may have picked up on our hands without realising it. The shop staff presumably are taking extra precautions when they handle the stock.