Autistic Friendly Businesses
Sensory overload happens a lot in public places like restaurants and stores. There are ways to make restaurants and stores more autistic friendly and some places have done some of these things like having a specific time every week where the lights are dimmed and the music is turned off, making it easier for autistic people to shop in their stores. There are grocery stores that I have heard of doing this, but it would be helpful if more places would do this and be able to advertise as being an autistic friendly business. I think there would be a great advantage to the owners if they did this, even though they might not think much about it being worth the investment.
Some of the things that would make a business autistic friendly would be:
*No music or very calming music, including nature noises. Music and volume is often my first anxiety trigger in a place and other things added on top that can send me over the edge in my stress management.
*Sound absorbing features in the room, to make things quieter. There are panels that can be bought. My church has a few, both in the auditorium and the fellowship hall. Carpet and cloth absorb sound as opposed to wood or other solid materials. I know that carpet on the walls is out of style, but there are other ways to let the walls and floor absorb the sound instead of bouncing it back all over the place.
*Dim lighting, or at least no florescent lights. Florescent lights are extremely hard for autistic people because they make a humming sound that most people can't hear, and it is very annoying for those who can hear it. LED lights would even be better than florescent lights.
*Soothing visuals, like waterfalls, plants, windmills, pinwheels, colorful moving things, but no flashing lights. Having soothing things to look at, especially in a restaurant where you will be in one place for a while, will be helpful because it is visual stimuli that doesn't include words or interaction with people. It gives us something interesting to look at while we are listening to conversations and soothing visuals will help to calm our mood while we are dealing with social stress. I remembered the tunnel in the Detroit airport that has colorful lights all around (but they were dim and soothing) and the lights changed with the music that was playing, which was also very soothing. It was very calming, and I could have stayed in the tunnel longer if I had had longer layovers there. On the opposite end, flashing lights from EMS and police are very stressful to see because of the brightness and speed of the flashing.
*Outdoor seating options for restaurants because outdoor has more space for sounds to escape to and there is often the visual stimuli of nature or traffic. There are also loud sounds outside, but overall, it may be easier for autistics to deal with. This can also be helpful for people who are claustrophobic and having others seated a few inches away in the next booth would make them feel closed in or trapped.
*Self-service restaurants are actually easier for us to deal with than restaurants with waiters and waitresses. It puts the power of decisions in our own hands instead of waiting for the server to come to the table or trying to get the server's attention when we need something. Everything with servers is another social interaction and that adds extra social stress to our lives. Restaurants where you order at the front, and you can fill up your own drink glass and things like that on your own are preferred to full-service restaurants. We can do things that we need on our own schedule instead of doing it on the server's schedule. This means that we mentally prepare ourselves before we do something instead of being taken by surprise or being constantly prepared for the server to show up at any given time.
These are just a few ideas and I may add to them at some point, as I think of more things.