To wish the world was more autism friendly?

[Tobythecat]

I wish for the following -

• dimmed lighting in all supermarkets shops and offices

-neutral packaging with no patterns in shops and supermarkets

• every road or busy side road to have a crossing
• Easily read signs to helps with finding your way around
• Phone calls not allowed on public transport unless an emergency
• No loud chatting on the bus and giggling like a banshee

-Autism-friendly jobs (perhaps linked to individuals special interest)

• Autism rooms in shops/supermarkets to retreat to if feeling overwhelmed

-No music in shops -Loud people must be fitted with a volume control device, and if they exceed the limit, they get hit on the head

• People who beep their car horns to greet friends on the street/road should have their horn removed and wear a t-shirt that says I am a twat.

Feel free to add your own!

I love going to eureka in Halifax with ds. They have a lovely little sensory room and all you have to do to access it is ask a member of staff and they set you up and leave you until things have calmed down enough. They seem very tuned in to helping visitors with any sort of disability.

Hand driers would be at the top of my list of things to ban!

Theseaweed , the displays at tube stations I'm talking about contain only adverts though , they genuinely serve no useful purpose...I must confess that I hate them too as I get migraines :-)

your list would cause serious disadvantages to anyone short sighted, dyslexic, hard of hearing, enduring long commutes, driving, running a business, paying taxes, etc

Oh yes, the bloody staring! I stare right back but it's tiresome.
A quiet room in every supermarket/large shopping centre.
An extra till open-end so my children don't have to wait in a queue.
Not so many huge toy aisles in supermarkets.
All of my three would like no other people around.
All eateries to serve bread/toast/cheese/butter separately.
Ball pools in every shopping centre, and sensory rooms

opened not open-end!

Weekly autism friendly cinema screenings, instead of fortnightly

Someone to shout back at my neighbours, when they say there is nothing wrong with my kids and I don't need access to my own drive!

I've read about some shops I think Asda and toys r us in a couple of towns, doing a autism friendly hour where they turn off the sounds and maps of the store detailing where stuff was, was given our, it would be good if that could be rolled out to more places.

rightknockered it's when people say there's nothing "wrong" with my kids that I lose my shit. No they're not "wrong" they're autistic, two completely separate things. And your neighbours sound like right arseholes.

A world without bananas was wanted by my ASC son when aged about 7!

Well I'm not autistic (at least I didn't think I was, maybe I am!) but I agree with every single thing on your original list OP! Do I need to be assessed do you think?!

This thread is amazing. I don't have autism and am woefully ignorance about it. Hearing about the number of things that seem so ordinary that are a problem for people with autism is really helping me to understand how hard life must be. But also, that there are lots of points of connection - I'd love the simplified road signs and the quiet retreat spaces, for instance!

I'd settle for people doing what they're supposed to and putting things where they belong. :) *
So if you make a plan, stick to it. Use your indicators. Don't walk backwards into me without looking etc. And DH put the sodding bowls in the cupboard correctly.

*according to my rules from my complicated brain...

There's barely anything that's across the board 'autism friendly'.

My DS for example loves shops with loud music and bright lights. Distracts from the people. You won't get him in one that has soft ambient noise and dimmed lighting. He likes patterns and bright colours. Plain packaging for everything would make his life difficult as he'd struggle much more to make choices. The crossing thing would be an annoyance as if he can see them he feels he has to use them to cross, even if the roads are clear and he could easily cross where he is. Put more of them about and pretty soon his walking routes would be entirely determined by crossings.

Even the room idea. My DS would love it if he happened to be the only person in the room. But if someone else was in there displaying any kind of meltdown behaviour or even just a general stressed out vibe, it would be his idea of hell and he couldn't get out fast enough.

A lot of his friends with ASD are very noisy, totally the kind of people who have loud phone convos on public transport and think it's ok to shout to each other across a room. They don't do well with more introverted people, or people who speak softly. So in their version they'd be whacking the quiet people with autism on the head, and turning everyone's volume up.

I'm with those requesting the general public are removed.

...& I don't even have autism!

My cousin would say 'All eateries should serve pizza & chips' (other than cereal it's pretty much all he eats).

No staring at people who behave differently.
No comments like "buggies are for babies" said loudly to your child when my older child is in his buggy right next to you.
Thinking that if the child making loud noises and banging on the next table looks at least 8 then there is likely to be something going on other than the child being naughty.
Don't let your toddler or dog pester my child.
Ds would like only those people he approves of, being allowed to go to places he goes.

I'd personally like to have everything my children need without having to fight for it all the time. I'd like things to be done on time without having to make endless phone calls chasing everything up. I want my LA to stick to statutory deadlines, and stop trying to take away SEN transport every damn year.

I'd like a secretary and a night carer so I can get some sleep

My local bowling alley have this tendency to put people in the lane next to us when it is empty, which tends to be a nightmare for me and the adults I support as some of them find it very overwhelming to have people right next to them when there is lots of empty lanes. I'm also autistic and hate this. I don't get why when there is lots of space to have someone sit right next to you.

For all with a visible or behavioural disability, banish all "starey gawpers" as our girl calls them.

And banish dressed up people. And dogs in crowded public places.

Our list would be long but those three would go a long way.

I want professionals to have some understanding of what autism is, and when I explain my children's needs I want to be listened to instead of being faced with the attitude that I'm lying. Especially because usually I won't tell you about the very bad days straight away.
And a disability social worker who bloody understands things like restricted eating patterns instead of looking at me with narrowed eyes when I detail the things my children won't eat

I don't want dim lights in the supermarket. That would totally freak me out. I'd quite like just one variety of each item so I don't waste half my life standing in front of a wall of jam, unable to decide which strawberry one to buy and then having to buy one of each just so I can get out of the shop.

My biggest supermarket issue is non linear layouts. Staggered aisles, aisles in different directions, or odd number of aisles. I need a clear route to follow, a bit like at Ikea. Or at least even, regular numbers so I can go up down, up down, up down, checkout. Lidl always has odd numbers and my brain can't cope with having to go down the same one twice. I need a pattern.

I object to the suggestion of using violence against loud people. Especially as volume control issues are themselves common autistic traits.

And I do not want to hear crap about their behaviours being caused by screen time and iPad exposure.