An Asda supermarket is to introduce a special "quiet hour" to enable customers with autism to browse the shelves in a less stressful environment.
For 60 minutes, noise within the store will be kept to a minimum, with escalators, TV screens and music switched off to reduce the risk of sensory overload. Customers will also be able to request a store layout map using pictures in place of words.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"This boy was playing absolute blue murder, kicking and screaming," Lea told the Manchester Evening News. "His mum just looked drained. She told me he suffers from autism. He was having a meltdown."Lea gave the youngster a football, which appeared to calm him down, but the encounter weighed on his mind and he began to think of ways in which shopping could be made a less stressful experience for customers with autism and other mental health issues.
"Six months ago, I would have said, 'Control your child', even though I've got children," he said. "But speaking to people with autism and disabled people has helped me think about how I can make it a better place to shop."
The first quiet hour will take place at 8am on Saturday 7 May. Staff will come in at 6am to prepare for the special period, during which Lea says "you will be able to hear a pin drop".The move has met with a positive response from autistic people and their families. One mother and awareness campaigner tweeted that the effort to accommodate special needs would "change lives".
-
Israel: Losing the American publicFeature A recent poll finds American support for Israel's military action in Gaza has fallen from 50% to 32%
-
Unmaking AmericansFeature Trump is threatening to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born Americans. Could he do that?
-
EPA: A bonfire of climate change regulationsFeature The Environmental Protection Agency wants to roll back its 'endangerment finding,' a ruling that lets the agency regulate carbon emissions
-
'Biblical' toad plague causes pile upTall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
-
Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
