AIBU to ask you which businesses are the least Autism friendly?

[LarrytheCucumber]

I nominate NatWest for their new look complete with confusing banks of cash machines and loud music. (Also bad for hearing aid wearers).

[Thorium23]

It's not a business but our GP surgery has loudish music playing all the time. I find it stressful and it prevents me from thinking about what I need to say when I get in to the consultation room

Anywhere that plays music isn't autism friendly - B&Q is pretty loud.

[lionheart]

Lots of restaurants but especially those where the waiter announces a birthday and the loud music starts to blare our for a hideous singalong.

[LarrytheCucumber]

I used to go to a surgery that blared Homes Under the Hammer from a television and I was the same as you Thorium. When I told the doctor it made me stressed he just looked at me as if no one could possibly object. I changed surgeries.

[SecretlyChartreuse]

So to the above on restaurants. I'm just noise sensitive and I found TGI Fridays awful on waiters singing and the harsh lighting.

[Thorium23]

Dh and I left a pub restaurant last year due to the music being so loud. I can cope if it's not intrusive but anything other than a bit of background noise and I'm struggling. The waitress offered to turn it down but I was embarrassed and just wanted to go. I don't like complaining about stuff that I know others like.

We went to a Chinese restaurant instead with relaxing Chinese music in the background

[ouryve]

Tesco. Cluttered, bright and deafening.ds1 used to scream in there, long before we had any inkling.

Though if M&s continue with their campaign to pipe music into all their food halls, I may go off them, too. Stood paralysed in front of the curries, last week, before realising I was right under a speaker.

[Kpo58]

I nominate NatWest for their new look complete with confusing banks of cash machines

I nominate NatWest for being unfriendly for non-short people or people with back issues. The amount of times I have to crouch to be able to use an outside cash point as the top of the machine doesn't go anywhere near my shoulders so I cannot see the screen if I stand near it...

I find most clothes shops dizzying, claustrophobic and scary. Theres no logic with how the clothes are laid out, the texture of the clothing is uncomfortable. Theres the panic of, so where are the black trousers? as you look around and find tops and trousers everywhere, but not what you are looking for. I just cannot stand going into them.

[BeyondTellsEveryoneRealFacts]

Anywhere with fluorescent lights

[cansu]

Most hospital departments. I once had to sit in an a and e waiting room with my ill, anxious and out of control autistic son. He was screaming and attacking me and I was treated to a head tilt when I explained in tears why we needed somewhere quiet to wait. Unbelievable really.

[TheSolitaryWanderer]

We've just had a conversation about cafes that just don't give you the right information about the food.

"I'd like a plain ham sandwich'
'OK'
This isn't a plain ham sandwich, it's got salad in it'
'Yeah well, it's a plain ham sandwich'

Or shops with overly helpful and friendly service that follows you around, like certain clothing chains.

And a hundred other incidents that my two find complicated and makes them head for vending machines or a Tesco local. They like things that don't involve a lot of human interaction if they're having a stressy day and the veneer is wearing thin. And their iPods to cut out other people's noise.

[manicinsomniac]

But you surely can't expect the restaurants, bars, shops etc not to play the music, can you?

Hospitals and doctors are totally different and should be calm, quiet spaces

[Thorium23]

But you surely can't expect the restaurants, bars, shops etc not to play the music, can you?

I suppose not but autistics still find it stressful. Personally that's why I don't go out much and try to shop online and avoid these situations. I can't concentrate in shops if there's intrusive music playing and I can't choose what I need or think about measurements etc.

Autistics have to live by other peoples' rules and ways of doing things.

[kinkytoes]

I'm not autistic but I also hate food places with intrusive music. I've had to move tables in Beefeater restaurant to find one where I could actually carry out a conversation with my dp. Ditto Frankie and Benny's I will never set foot in there again. It's physically impossible to escape the noise in there.

There is music. And then there is in your face music.

[MrsBobDylan]

My least favourite is our hospital. There is a lovely central garden area there and since ds hates waiting and we have appointments there most weeks, it would be great to be able to walk round it while waiting the inevitable minimum of 20 mins before our appointment. I'd love a display that showed what number they were up to so we could hang out in the garden and get a 5 min warning before the dr was ready to see us!

[Samcro]

i know this is about autism , but can I just de rail and moan about opticians...that put the mirrors so high that someone in a wheelchair can't see.(actually not a derail as you can be a wheelchair user and have autism)

[Samcro]

and the music one is also bad for hearing impaired. my dad used to find it a nightmare.

[YouTheCat]

Boots - the lighting is way too harsh. Ds used to have massive meltdowns if we ever had to go into Boots. Once he got to 4 years I just couldn't handle him in there any more and stopped going in. He's 21 now.

Sainsburys are very good. Ours has massive front windows that let in loads of natural light. The aisles are wide and the music isn't blaring.

[Thorium23]

I had to visit the shops late last night and the store was only in half lighting (to save energy) and there was hardly anybody there. It was lovely. Like a totally different place.

[babbafishbabe]

Boots, IKEA and Tesco.... My DS has a meltdown whenever he sees the Logo!
Our best shopping experiences are Waitrose and John Lewis.
My son has Autism... He is NOT an autistic as someone claimed earlier!!!

[Thorium23]

But it's not wholly representative because there's not the constant pop music that is present everywhere now. Perhaps the Americans don't have this, I don't know.

[Thorium23]

YouTheCat the overpowering smell in Boots as well

[hedgehogsdontbite]

I think IKEA is very autism friendly, at least it is here in Sweden. It's all set out very clearly with one route through the store. I enjoy it. What I hate are supermarkets with staggered aisles so there's no clear route through.

[YouTheCat]

Babba, lots of autistic people describe themselves as being 'an autistic'. Many think that saying they have autism equates to having something like measles when it isn't something you have, it is something you are.

Ds had a massive meltdown in John Lewis when he was about 8/9. He wanted to go back down the same escalator we'd come up. The security person who helped was fantastic and even gave him jelly beans and stopped the escalator so he could walk down it.

[babbafishbabe]

Youthecat I have to totally disagree.... Autism is a medical diagnostic term to describe my sons behaviours. Autistic is NOT who he is ..... Actually he is Oscar! He just has autism!!!!