UK's first 'quiet hour' for autistic shoppers to be held next week...

[OlLiE]

i wish that some entrepreneur would start a chain of 'quiet places', a kind of coffee shop, with comfortable seats, where you can read, listen to headphones (that don't leak noise), work on, your laptop, adapted lighting, anything except talking or making noise or doing anything offensive, with a separate 'speaking area'

a place to go if you don't want to be inside your place, be among quiet well mannered people, and be able to choose when to speak and to whom

i guess the problem would be how to police it, as soon as it gets out noisy people will make a joke of trying to get in a be disruptive once they are there, could you throw them out? would you have to make it a private club kind of thing, what do you do if a noisy shop sets up next to you etc

that's the problem, one quiet person doesn't kill noise, but one noisy person kills quiet

 

[xudo]

i guess the problem would be how to police it, as soon as it gets out noisy people will make a joke of trying to get in a be disruptive once they are there, could you throw them out? would you have to make it a private club kind of thing, what do you do if a noisy shop sets up next to you etc

You could throw them out, in the UK at least. There is a chain of pubs here which have decided they will not allow any swearing. If you are heard to be swearing, you will be warned and if you continue they will chuck you out. Same sort of thing, just no noise rather than no swearing.

Swearing ban: Samuel Smith pub boss calls time on bad language

 

[Butterfly88]

I wish they'd do this in the US and the rest of the world too.

 

[Streetwise]

update no advertisement of the autism hour at all, spent as much as i could , you would barely no it was happening apart from a college for autism with a stand, the lighting was no different, as usual a nauseating smell from the kitchen,i met one boy who was on the spectrum -Hugo, hes more educated socially than iam, but hes in his 20s

 

[xudo]

So we went to Sainsbury's today. I would echo @Streetwise in that there was precisely zero advertising of what they were doing and why. The lights were dimmed, and that was fantastic. However, they hadn't turned the noises on any of the checkouts down, and they were still audible from the very back of the shop. My husband works at this shop, and said that the problem is that there's no system to turn them all down/off but that each one has a volume control and it's dependent on each cashier to change the volume.

There were no announcements or advertisements over the loud speaker which was good too. I would say that it was a good idea, but that maybe they needed to do more to make people aware of what it was that they were participating in, and why. Part of the mission was also to educate people about ASD, and you obviously can't do that if most people just think you haven't turned the lights on as brightly as usual.

 

[Mary Anne]

A nice gesture. Though proprietors themselves are only part of this equation in terms of what makes up intrusive and stressful sensory considerations in retail environments.

Now if they could only do something about all the sensory considerations relative to NT patrons as well. Of course that reflects an exposure I must deal with wherever I shop for much of anything.

Loud conversations between people blocking access to inventory, people yakking on their cellphones, children attempting to break glass and the sound barrier with their voices, etc.. Somehow I don't see proprietors treating those customers as would a librarian, but who knows? Yes, feedback on how such events pan out would be most interesting.

Hah! Even libraries are no longer quiet places! When I was studying for my addictions counselor studies , I found hordes of teenagers after school hanging out for “study hours.” The place every Friday night and other nights too, was a loud nosy bustling social place. During the daytimes, parents bring their screaming tantrum engaging children to the library.

Both encounters on multiple occasions left me triggered, and upset the entire day.

 

[Mary Anne]

During Christmas time (Thanksgiving through New Years Day, I stay away not only from stores, and malls, but also do not drive in busy roads where these busy chaotic places reside.

Currently working in a “big box” store where there is a torturous endless loop of the same music/ songs played continually over intercom. This happens everywhere and I wonder why it does not occur to the powers that run these massive operations that more sound diversity (or none at all) would be much more helpful full not only to shoppers but to employees too. Certain stores are way worse than others. If I absolutely must go in there, I limit my exposure dramatically.

 

[Aidan49]

Hah! Even libraries are no longer quiet places! When I was studying for my addictions counselor studies , I found hordes of teenagers after school hanging out for “study hours.” The place every Friday night and other nights too, was a loud nosy bustling social place. During the daytimes, parents bring their screaming tantrum engaging children to the library.

Both encounters on multiple occasions left me triggered, and upset the entire day.

I've found that in my local library too, with all those teens hanging out for, as you put it, "study hours". Which confused me because I didn't remember the library being that popular when I was their age.

 

[Aeolienne]

Funny how autism-friendliness means quiet for supermarkets but noisy for cinema screenings.