To be suprised at Butlins and their lack of neurodiverse awareness?

[GreenPhlem]

have just left Butlins. Will hopefully never go back.

We were visiting with our autistic 3 year old grandaughter.

Not one mention of “autism friendly” shows anywhere. Every thing we attempted was too loud and in your face, even with ear defenders on granddaughter was struggling. You would have thought a place like Butlins would put on at least one autism friendly show a day but nope … nothing.

We took her to the tots disco last night - was meant to start at 6pm so we got there for 6pm knowing DGD will struggle to wait for something to happen … 6:05pm and nothing is happening - DGD getting restless and wants to leave. 6:10 the redcoat comes on and says the kids disco will start in about 15 minutes. No chance we could keep DGD happy for another 15 minutes so we had to leave. As we were leaving he said something about another show that would be happening at 7:30 unless the PJ masks photo shoot goes on for too long then that activity will be cancelled!! God forbid they miss out on money making photographs

Swimming - you now have to book a time slot. We booked 11am. 11:05 were still in a queue outside in the rain. When we eventually get in the changing rooms are so packed out (as everyone is going in and leaving at the same time) that DGD gets overwhelmed and shuts down. Nowhere quiet to take her … no thought to neurodiversity

Took her to soft play. I booked her into the toddler area as she would struggle being around the big loud hyper kids. I was told she was too tall for the toddler area and have to go into the big kids area. A small, timid autistic girl going into the big kids area with 10/11 year old kids flying around screaming and shouting?? Was never going to work so we left (DGD was already starting to have a meltdown as soon as she saw the chaos of the big kids area).

Is it just me or what?? Surely a place like Butlins should factor in that some kids may require a bit of reasonable adjustment?

Sorry so many typos above!

8year old son autistic and adhd. He loved butlins but we make the accommodations. We don't go to the shows as he struggles with noise, we arrive on time or slightly late to the disco so it is on. We don't go swimming as it is too overwhelming. But he loves the arcade, the shows on the main stage as they are not so loud and in the dark, he adores the puppet shows and the meet and greets with the characters as long as one of us is with him. He has never done soft play as it is too loud, he loves the rides but wants to go on the younger ones but is now too big so we don't go near them! We use it as a base, have a day in butlins then go out and about to places he will cope with/. We went to the dinosaur park last year and he loved it! We also go out of school holidays. He attends a specialist school and they allow us one holiday a year in school time. We would of course pay the fine if we were fined! But so far it has worked out fine. We have had some issues and it has been trial and error, but we love butlins overall as he can run around and not get into danger with traffic, he can be a bit more independent and he loves the red coats!!!

They're not holiday resorts, though, are they? Butlins will have thousands of families with kids.

And what’s your point?

music festivals cater for 100k people. Still manage to be inclusive.

genuinely baffling how on a parents site, so many people so quick to try and defend a family resort not being inclusive to FAMILIES.

gross behaviour.

have to ask yourself why your so quick to defend a company that already does make adjustments but obviously needs to improve?

music festivals cater for 100k people. Still manage to be inclusive.

I mean if you don't like loud you don't like loud. busy is difficult, it's difficult. I wouldn’t go to a music festival any more than I would go to buttons. I wouldn't cope with it. It's not for me. People shouting about 'inclusivity' seem to have missed the fact that when people don't like doing certain things, it's ok to simply not do them. That works for both people with disabilities and these without. Quite often I have well meaning people saying 'oh I bet you wish you could do X/Y/Z, it's a shame the wonders can't make that possible' when actually what I really want is to do A/B/C.

This thread inspired me to look at the Natural History Museum in London, one of DDs favourite places but that she can't visit. Turns out, there are some special sessions that would be perfect for her. 5 times a year, they open at 8am for 2 hrs for ND children.

Unfortunately we can't get to centre of London for 8am... but they are trying.
(An after hours session would work better for her really.)

If she likes the animals and you’re London based the horniman museum has a collection of taxidermy animals, sometimes has arts and crafts activities on Saturdays and has a big garden and isn’t normally very busy (there are usually a lot of toddlers around so not great if she doesn’t like little kids). Probably not worth a trip into London if you aren’t based nearby as it’s only a small collection and a bit of an awkward location to get to.

If it’s the dinosaurs she likes - Term time weekends in autumn/winter at the natural history museum seem to be quieter from our experience (less city-break tourists and no school holiday crowds) - so might be your best bet if you haven’t got an inset day at a convenient time. The science museum is literally next door and usually nowhere near as busy so we often do a quick run into see the dinosaurs for about half an hour then head over to the science museum where there’s lots more interactive stuff and you don’t have to battle through crowds and stay there for the rest of the day.

@Dandelionzebra shes a teenager now. We visit London on the school holidays (grandparents) but Zone 6. She basically loves museums but hates crowds!

Lots of museums hold an other early morning or evening quiet sessions now - def check them out! DD also hates crowds but loves museums. It guarantees there will be no school groups at least!

edit - just seen the early sessions mentioned but def keep an eye for evenings!

So OP didn't make reasonable adjustments by choosing to take DC to a loud bawdy kids fun holiday park and is complaining that the loud bawdy kids fun holiday park should have made them instead.

We always get to museums for opening (not the London ones as much as he would love them after a trip to the tower of London he has vowed never to go to London again) and normally manage half an hour to an hour before it gets too busy for him.

ds is an early bird so it works well for him!

Every venue in the UK legally needs to make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.

At 8am they are not trying it's lip service.

@DragonFly98

Every venue in the UK legally needs to make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.

You should look a bit deeper into this. Butlins have done nothing wrong here.

In Tring, there’s a lovely small museum which is like a mini Natural history museum. It’s not huge, but you can spend the morning at the museum, then go for a nice walk along the canal in Tring

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/tring.html

I've gone from thinking... "ooohh maybe she can again" to "worse time due to how busy trains and underground will be at time" over the past couple of hours.

However I sort of accept closing the whole museum for a random day in school summer holidays for limited numbers only would also be wildly unrealistic. Plus how could they decide who should be able to get tickets?

It’s a tough one though. For DS 8am would be an ideal time, but I can see why for many others it would be a nightmare. Shutting a venue in the middle of the day will never be practical solution so it’s always going to one end of the day or other

https://www.butlins.com/help-contact/disability-requirements

I see no mention of OP making Butlins aware that adjustments were required at time of booking.

Butlins is specifically designed for people who like loud and chaotic holidays. Trying to accommodate autism friendly activities there would be total losing battle.

I think centerparks would be more suitable if you're keen on holiday villages. However,even that might be too disruptive as other holiday makers cannot be controlled.
My friends whose children have asd have bought a small caravan and find it works best for them.

Gosh, always whinging. They shouldn’t even bother trying.

Quite common for people to think this applies tp physical disabilities.

I didnt realise, for example, that we could access special assistance at the airport with DD.

Bluestone is one of the worst things to happen to my area. Ugh.

Anyway, the point is, reasonable adjustments. Butlins is a loud, busy place with loud, busy activities. So no, it's not ableist to suggest that it's perhaps best avoided for a child who cannot cope with loud and busy. It's not ableist to compare it to me, as a wheelchair user, booking a mountain climbing holiday.

Sometimes, us disabled people can't do things. I know I can't climb mountains in an electric wheelchair. I know I can't access the beach. So I wouldn't choose to go there and then have a strop that I wasn't able to participate. I'm also neurodiverse and Butlins would be my worst nightmare. I know what Butlins is and why would I expect them to change for me? I'd just go somewhere more suitable for my own needs.

General access to things we need, like shops, parking, healthcare etc, absolutely. Access to things we can't do anyway? Nah.

You don't need to request it on a case by case basis, Butlins should already be making reasonable adjustments.

@DragonFly98

You don't need to request it on a case by case basis, Butlins should already be making reasonable adjustments.

You are being utterly ridiculous of course. What reasonable adjustment do you think butlins should be making here?

Also, pay close attention to the use of the word 'reasonable' when making your considerations

Butlins was a strange choice considering her needs.