Top Tips to becoming an Autism Friendly business

AUTISM FRIENDLY MEA

TOP TIPS to becoming an Autism Friendly Business.

Mid and East Antrim is an Autism Friendly Borough.

Having a better understanding of autism is essential to make services more accessible for everyone and creating a more inclusive community.

Key considerations to becoming an autism friendly organisation Understand as much as you can about autism a good way is to join our free “Becoming Autism Friendly” Workshops. Contact us to book a session (details on back)

Styles of communication are a fundamental part of engaging with the autistic community.

Try presenting your information in different formats such as using visuals and pictures, videos and audio to complement the written text.

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When communicating with an individual keep your language clear and concise.

Allow for additional time - when interacting with an autistic person it is helpful to give them time to talk, to process information and to respond.

Many autistic people will experience anxiety, which will often impact their quality of life. By providing advance information, autistic visitors can prepare before their visit, which will manage their expectations, reduce anxiety and help with planning their visit. Even if you don’t have a venue, providing information on line or via social media about what people can expect can help to reduce anxiety.

The environment is important - some autistic people are particularly sensitive to light, movement, sounds, smell and touch. Try to keep the immediate environment as calm as possible to help alleviate any anxiety. If this is not possible consider providing a quiet space, or scheduling quiet times to accommodate autistic individuals.

Alternatively, introducing the use of sensory packs for customer use can help an individual to self-regulate.

A key concern for the autistic community if the need to make last minute changes to appointments and are at times penalised for missing appointments in circumstances that could not be avoided. Consider your policies around this to see if they could be amended to incorporate exceptions for these circumstances.

Consider the provision of training to support staff further eg JAM Card (NOW Group), Autism NI Impact Award or National Autistic Society.

AUTISM FRIENDLY MEA

For additional information on our free training sessions contact Fiona Surgenor E: Fiona.Surgenor@midandeastantrim. gov.uk Jayne Colville E: jayne.colville@northerntrust.hscni.net Other support organisations Autism NI W: autismni.org T: 028 9040 1729 Now Group W: www.nowgroup.org T: 028 9043 6400 National Autistic Society W: www.autism.org.uk T: 028 9068 7066 Autism Initiatives W: www.autisminitiatives.org T: 028 9069 9130