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Autism (not so) friendly

Expecto_Patronum

Has anyone noticed the rise in so called autism friendly services of late. People seem to be able to label their business (or whatever it is) autism friendly without having to do anything to prove it or become certified. In my small experiences of these people they are never as autism friendly as they think they are. A recent experience (don't want to go into detail just on the small chance the person could see this post) in which somebody had declared their business to be autism friendly and aware of sensory needs turned out that they had zero idea about sensory needs and in fact actually caused me sensory issues. I find this frustrating and a little concerning. I think this person genuinely believes that they are autism friendly and that their service will make a difference. I don't think businesses should be allowed to label themselves as autism friendly unless they have been certified to show that they actually are. I just get frustrated with situations like this as it feels like autistic life is always 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

Parents

  • Autism friendly seems a bit belittling in the way that shops would also put a dog friendly sign in the window. You wouldn’t put “friendly” for other neurological issues would you? Perhaps it’s just a nice way of the owners to seem accommodating and progressive but I’d say they value profit over moral standards regarding those on the spectrum. 

  • in reply to Autismman

    To be honest I hadn't even thought about that side of it. I'm not so bothered about the title though, I'd just like them to be able to deliver on what they say.

  • in reply to Expecto_Patronum

    They definitely shouldn’t be saying one thing and doing another but how exactly is any place be it business or otherwise going to define exactly what it is to be autism friendly? Are the staff given more training? Is there noise resistant walls, who decides all this as well.

  • in reply to Autismman

    This is a fair point. The NAS inspects schools with regards to how well they cater for autistic students. On the whole I think this is really positive but I do believe there are holes in the system. I think I've seen that they do the same for some businesses. However a business can advertise themselves as autism friendly without the seal of approval from NAS. In the instance I'm talking about it was an individual who's selling point of their business is that they cater for sensory needs (hard to explain properly without giving examples but I'm always wary when posting online). It was just so clear that they didn't understand sensory needs at all and in an attempt to make a situation easier for myself I'd potentially made it harder with my choice of person.

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  • in reply to Autismman

    This is a fair point. The NAS inspects schools with regards to how well they cater for autistic students. On the whole I think this is really positive but I do believe there are holes in the system. I think I've seen that they do the same for some businesses. However a business can advertise themselves as autism friendly without the seal of approval from NAS. In the instance I'm talking about it was an individual who's selling point of their business is that they cater for sensory needs (hard to explain properly without giving examples but I'm always wary when posting online). It was just so clear that they didn't understand sensory needs at all and in an attempt to make a situation easier for myself I'd potentially made it harder with my choice of person.

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