The National Autistic Society’s Autism Hour campaign, supported by toy retailer The Entertainer, is creating a week of autism friendly shopping experiences across the UK.
Shops, businesses and shopping centres will be holding Autism Hours throughout the second week of October (6-13).
Major high street names have backed the move including The Entertainer, Sainsbury’s, Argos, Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Co-op and Schuh. Anyone interested in attending an Autism Hour can visit this map to find out when and where there are Autism Hours in their area.
Autism Hour was launched last year as the first mass-participation event to encourage shops to be more autism friendly and more than 5,000 shops and businesses took part.
This year the National Autistic Society wants the event to be even bigger and is encouraging more shops and businesses to get involved. Many celebrities are backing the campaign including Chris Packham, Anne Hegerty and Christine McGuinness.
Autism Hours are designed to show businesses the simple steps they can take to improve the shopping experience for autistic customers and families. The NAS hope that, after participating, many more of them will follow The Entertainer’s example and introduce permanent changes, like their weekly Quiet Hour, to make their business more autism friendly, as well as working towards our Autism Friendly Award. You can sign up your Business here .
Chris Packham, (pictured) TV presenter, naturalist and National Autistic Society Ambassador, said; “I rarely go into supermarkets. I find that environment really challenging, all of the bright lights, the confusion of the enormous complexity of goods in there, plus all the smells and the sounds.”
“It’s a difficult environment. And that’s why I’m very keen to support Autism Hour, those shops which offer an hour where they make the whole atmosphere a lot more relaxing for autistic people.”
For more information about Autism Hour, visit Autism hour website.
