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Ways to cope with visiting a restaurant/café, improving the experience for children.

Holly

Hiya, I am Holly and I am studying interior architecture and design. For my most recent project, I am focusing on designing a restaurant that is more inclusive to autistic children and their families. Read the full description below:

The number of children being diagnosed with autism has hugely increased in the last two decades, whilst many areas of design have adapted to the needs of neurodevelopment disorders, restaurant design in-particular remains non-inclusive. This, therefore, means autistic children and their families miss out on important family time as they often find dining out challenging due to restaurants being too overwhelming for children who are over or under sensitive to senses. But dining out is an important part of a child's development and it should be encouraged not avoided. By re-designing a restaurant space that are more autistic friendly, it will help pose a change to future design, ensuring a more inclusive future.

If you have any stories, experiences whether they are good or bad about visiting a restaurant then please comment away! Whether you are a parent and struggle taking your child out or as an adult, and avoid visiting restaurants altogether. Or do you have any tips on how you cope in this environment, are there any ways to improve the overall experience for children?

I would love to hear any feedback you have, anything will be useful to help me design an autistic-friendly restaurant and activity hub.

Parents

  • That's an interesting project. We're a varied bunch, so what works for one might not work for all. I have some initial thoughts, in no particular order.

    Not being too noisy, not having background music as that can induce sensory overload, maybe even some sound deadening, certainly not being echoey. Or maybe one room with gentle music and one without. Maybe individual booths for each family as some don't like being watched eat, or watching or hearing others eat. Some of them should have very calm colours and some bright cheerful colours with fairy lights, but not the kind that flash. In fact it might be fun for each booth to be plain white but with adjustable lighting that could be dim or bright, cool or warm, plain or coloured. Personally I need to be able to see out a window or I feel a bit anxious, but no idea if that is just me or others have that!

    Smells can be a problem! Personally I can't stand vinegar so fish and chip places are a problem for me! Having good but quiet extractor fans would probably help. The temperature can be an issue, as we don't always notice if we are too hot or cold but it can still contribute to overwhelm.

    Comfortable seating - maybe even some booths which allow sitting on the floor or on cushions like some other cultures? But not all on the floor, some people have a very strong preference for traditional! Maybe even table with adjustable heights or that can be removed easily, like folded up into the wall and the chairs can be switched for cushions or also benches that can fold up into the wall and the cushions from them put on the floor instead? Soft fabrics for the cushions, not sweaty slippery plastic seating or hard chairs is my preference but others may differ.

    Another angle which would be a huge help would be to have a website with all the info about what to expect. Not just written, though do have that, but also a video walkthrough showing all the seating options and what to expect both when it is quiet and busy. And be able to book online or by phone, and when booking for the option of stating needs and preferences, book a specific booth, a calm or bright colour scheme, traditional table or floor seating or whatever options are available.

    Being able to pre-order the food would be a huge help for many of us, especially if there were food preferences. An adaptable menu so if someone wants all their food the same colour, not touching, all smooth or all crunchy that could happen. If booked far enough in advance the possibility of having a food item not usually on the menu might help some. Also allowing the food for a particularly sensitive person to be brought from home but served with other people's food. Some prefer bland food while others may be sensory seekers and need strong flavours, so both options as well as the range in between would be ideal.

    The toilets should have a quiet flush and not those horrible noisy blown air hand dryers! In fact individual cubicles like disabled ones are generally nicer than the ones with multiple cubicles off them. And the soap not smelling horrible but being a gentle kind.

    The staff would need to be kind but expect a wide range of possible responses as some of us are quite social and like to chat while others prefer not to, and some are even non verbal. I hadn't thought of what Sam mentioned about how wait staff would know when to approach, but if the booths were not transparent, there could be some kind of indicator to signal when attention was requested.

    Some of these thoughts are based on things I have heard or read others say about either themselves or autistic kids and others have come from my personal experience.

  • in reply to AuTriker

    I love these ideas! Especially the adjustable lighting.

    In terms of getting the waiter's attention, you could even have a simple sign on a stand that says "service please" on one side and "do not disturb" on the other.

    Also to add that as an autistic adult with children, I would suggest marketing it towards "autistic people" rather than just autistic children and their families is an important distinction.  There are a bazillion things out there for children, but barely anything for adults.

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  • in reply to AuTriker

    I love these ideas! Especially the adjustable lighting.

    In terms of getting the waiter's attention, you could even have a simple sign on a stand that says "service please" on one side and "do not disturb" on the other.

    Also to add that as an autistic adult with children, I would suggest marketing it towards "autistic people" rather than just autistic children and their families is an important distinction.  There are a bazillion things out there for children, but barely anything for adults.

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