On a mission to make Ballina more accessible for autistic people

An ever growing number of local businesses are in the process of becoming certified Autism Champions in Ballina. On a sunny August afternoon, the award-winning Ballina Autism Friendly Town took this reporter on a tour of their town.

To become a champion, staff in the business need to undergo a training course, designed by AsIAm, Ireland's Autism charity and to have a sensory box on site.

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Elisha Beattie is the Chairperson of Ballina Autism Friendly Town and she explains that at the core of the training is identifying the barriers that the autistic community face everyday and trying to eliminate those barriers so they have the same chance to participate in everyday life.

Once accredited, businesses are presented with a colourful sticker to display in their window.

The significance of seeing the sticker in the window of a business for people with autism and their families is that it tells you “their staff are prepared if my child has a meltdown or if I'm struggling,” says Rebecca Connor-Wood, who is the PRO of Ballina Autism Friendly Town.

“We focus on education, empathy, and beyond awareness, acceptance. I would say the majority of people are aware of autism. But actually fully accepting autistic children and autistic adults, I think it's a very different thing. So that's where we come in. We're all about raising awareness and making the social side of life more accessible.”

Practical steps to increase accessibility

Our first stop was the oasis of calm that the garden area of the Mary Robinson Centre (MRC) provides. The centre is one of a number of local businesses to have achieved the status of Autism Champion.

It’s a great example as it has created a sensory map as well as a social story that people can see on their website before visiting.

The importance of the sensory map is that it allows people to anticipate which areas they may wish to visit, as well as avoid.

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Pointing to the map in the MRC, Rebecca picks out the smell symbol over the urban farm and the noise symbol over the toilet as examples of how “people can prepare themselves or prepare their kids, to say, maybe we won't use the hand dryers. Maybe we won't go to the farm, if you've got an issue with smells, things like that.”

This is a very practical way businesses can improve accessibility for people with autism as sensory process is one of the barriers people with autism face.

The social story acts as a pre-visit guide so people can have predictability and control over the excursion, which is another barrier people with autism face.

Pizza Pod is another local to proudly display the Autism Champion sticker in their window.

One barrier this business made accommodation for was communication. The takeaway pizzeria has installed a tablet so that if your communication style is different and you don't like talking to people, you have another option.

Judgment and attitudes are another social barrier for people with autism.

Unfortunately, as an adult with autism, Rebecca experienced judgement when in a fast food restaurant in Galway.

She explains that “with a lot of autistic people, you have very set food types that you're comfortable eating. So restaurants aren't always easy. I asked to order something from the children's menu, chicken nuggets and chips, because that was predictable. I knew that it was going to look a certain way and that I can control the sauce going on and all of things like that. When you're stressed, that's the idea of having something that you know.”

Despite offering to pay for an adult meal, she was refused the meal as she was not under twelve.

Her husband could see she was overwhelmed and explained to the restaurant staff that she is autistic and if she isn’t able to eat this, it might take ages to find somewhere else with suitable food.

The eye rolls from the staff and manager made Rebecca feel like an idiot for asking for a really simple accommodation.

This she says is part of the societal judgement that you’re an adult, you need to get over yourself.

“But that’s not how your brain works. Your brain is different from the day you're born to the day or die, and people need to be more accepting of that.”

This is not a three year project, this is a lifelong commitment

While Ballina Autism Friendly Town might be two years into a three year plan, Elisha is clear that this is a lifelong commitment for the town.

The subtle changes being made to make Ballina more accessible are made to last beyond the three year plan.

The ongoing learning involved was emphasised by a chance encounter with Jimmy Rafferty on the streets of Ballina.

His shoe shop is currently undergoing training to become an Autism Champion.

He called Elisha over as there was a child with autism who had a bit of tough experience getting their foot measured and he wanted to see how they can improve that for the next child.

It was a very real example of how Elisha and other members of the Ballina Autism Friendly Town team have become the go-to people to reach out to for advice and help in how to improve accessibility for autistic people in the town.

Ray Brogan runs the Pangur Bán independent bookshop and is another Autism Champion in the town.

He says it’s a great initiative to be involved in and says that the Ballina Autism Friendly Town deserve a lot of credit for the work they do.

Indeed, their work got national recognition in February, when they were awarded the New Community Recognition Award and the Sensory Accessibility Award at the AsIAm Autism Friendly Town Awards in Dublin.

Another rewarding moment for Rebecca was this year’s Salmon Festival in Ballina.

Having grown up in the town, she has memories of going there as a child.

“I loved it but I was so overwhelmed. I had such fond memories but also so many memories of stress from the queues and the amount of people.”

This year, there was a sensory hour where it was opened up early for families that needed it and there were no queues, a limited number of people as well as a sensory space for the whole event.

“We had a lot of families saying it was the first year that they didn’t have to leave straight away and we actually made it past the queue, because there wasn’t a queue,” Rebecca says.

Elisha, who is also a mother of a child with autism, agrees and says they got great feedback and heard visitors came from outside Ballina specifically for the event because the whole family could attend the event.