Museums Victoria joins ‘autism-friendly’ movement

This week Coles expanded autism-friendly shopping to nearly 70 stores around the country, after successful trials were held in August.

During the ‘Quiet Hour’, parents of autistic children can shop without listening to Coles Radio. The store lighting is dimmed, trolley collection is put on hold, and registers and scanners have their volume turned down.

Coles is one of a number of Australian spaces introducing services and experiences that make life easier for people with autism, a life-long neurodevelopmental disorder.

Another is Melbourne Museum in Victoria, where it’s estimated around 55,000 people are living with autism.

The ‘Autism-Friendly Museum Project‘ has been launched by Museums Victoria to make coming to the museum more enjoyable for both children with autism, and their parents.

The Project includes online resources for families, and teachers, and – in collaboration with AMAZE, and the Victorian Education and Early Childhood Department, training for museum staff.

Melbourne Museum senior programs officer Adrienne Leith is leading on the project, which she says has received 15,000 online visitors and at least 2,000 downloads of ‘social stories’.

These stories contain images of what to expect at the museum so parents and teachers can plan their visit, including what to expect when lining up for admission, to how interactive each exhibit will be.

The website also offers sensory maps to explain where low and high sensory areas are located.

“The good thing about the sensory maps is that there not just for people on the autism spectrum. It increases access for people who want to regulate their visit,” Ms Leith told Hatch.

Online guides help visitors choose how stimulating to make their visit. (Photo: Liela Boyd)

Miss Leith says the initiative has been a big hit with visitors – and with the museum’s own staff.

“Pretty much everyone on staff at the museum – that’s 450 people – got involved. And we now have a better understanding of our visitors,” she says.

Understanding autism

Projects like these are a huge help to parents of children with autism. For a better understanding of what raising an autistic child is like, I spoke to Amanda Taylor, who has seven children – three of whom have been diagnosed with high-functioning autism.

The family decided to move to Macedon Ranges when their eldest son, who is now 17, was struggling in a mainstream local school. The move has put them in a higher socio-economic area, where they can access resources and schooling support.

Amanda Taylor and her family. (Photo: Amanda Taylor)

Mrs Taylor says she has welcomed the ability to get her children diagnosed as it has made adjusting home life more straightforward.

“I did have a cry [when three of my children were diganosed], and you do doubt yourself as a parent and think retrospectively what you could have done differently and if it would have made a difference,” she says.

Amanda Taylor says children with autism must live in – and be welcomed by – the real world. (Photo: Amanda Taylor)

“But I would like it to be widely known that a diagnosis does not mean that a child has an intellectual disability. There is a lot of negative stigma attached to a diagnosis of ASD.”

Amanda says each of her children presents differently with autism.

Eldest child Lachlan had to be desensitised in almost every setting when he was a toddler. Routine was very important to him and he displayed obsessive tendencies with all his interests, making it hard for him to fit in with other children.

“He had a birthday party in primary school, and we invited the whole class and only one child came. It was heart breaking,” Ms Taylor recalls.

Lachlan is now 17, and while he still has social anxiety and difficulty with pragmatic speech, he manages by communicating through humour.

His sister Hannah, 10, has had a very different experience. She is fiercely intelligent, takes on leadership roles at schools, and loves to dance – but she has trouble with motor planning. That’s different to fellow sibling Phoenix, who loves sport and enjoys being social although he struggles to maintain friendships.

Ms Taylor emphasises the need for them to be included within the community, but also welcomes autism-friendly spaces, saying she has battled with waiting lines at events and visiting shopping centres.

“Our children have to live in the real world,” she says. – Liela Boyd (@Liela_Boyd)

Originally featured on: https://hatch.macleay.net/museums-victoria-autism-friendly/