My dd has autism and has another condition that causes seizures that have tourettes like tics. Life is really hard for her, she struggles a lot.
She has barely been out of the house for the last few years, part time school, hasn't really been able to do anything or go anywhere.
A band she absolutely loves was playing last night, I bought her pretty expensive VIP tickets as they had a little Q&A thing with 3 acoustic songs, and then I thought we would leave before the actual gig.
I spoke to one of the staff at the venue about possibly letting is out a quieter exit, and off she went, came back with the most lovely security guys. They told me that dd was more than welcome to use the accessible area, that she would be given a seat, explained what to do if she felt anxious at all (go to the person working the accessible area and they could take her to get some air if she felt overwhelmed) and were just absolutely amazing honestly. She sat down, they kept checking in she was OK, even complimented her ear defenders 😭
At one point she needed the toilet so they escorted her down the back stairs, escorted her right to the front of the queue at the toilet, and then waited and back up the same way and got us back to the seating area.
They allowed us to wait until the crowd had cleared before we left as well.
I've spent the whole night crying, I never thought in a million years that my dd would be able to attend a full gig, let alone actually enjoy one. The way those staff went totally above and beyond was absolutely amazing honestly life changing for my dd.
No real point to this post, just a very proud Mum today who is absolutely over the moon at the way all of those lovely security people have been trained, and made a teenage girl actually feel like a teenage girl for a night of music.
Ignore me.... I'll be off somewhere crying all day.