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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/mesa-arizona-certified-autism-friendly-city-families/>
"Many parents are all too familiar with the glares and disapproving comments
when their kid has a meltdown in a supermarket aisle or a restaurant. For
parents of neurodiverse kids, the feeling of being unwelcome is enough to
prevent them from taking vacations.
“The thought of travel with a child with autism can be too overwhelming for
some, and they’re nervous to take the leap of money, time and energy going to a
destination that may or may not be accommodating to their family’s needs,”
explains Nicole Thibault, a certified autism travel specialist and mother of
three boys, including a son with autism. According to Autism Travel, 87 percent
of families with autism don’t travel at all.
The president and CEO of the tourism bureau Visit Mesa, Marc Garcia, knows the
challenges from personal experience. His son Mason, now nine years old, was
diagnosed with a severe form of autism at 14 months. Usually, Garcia and his
wife take their three boys to low-key beach holidays in Southern California. In
2018, they also visited a few museums and restaurants on their vacation on the
California coast. “My youngest had a particularly lousy week. He just had
meltdown after meltdown,“ Garcia recalls. “We were used to being on the
receiving end of the awkward looks and muffled whispers even at the grocery
store back home, but what got me was that the whispers and stares weren’t
coming from other guests but from supposed hospitality professionals at the
hotel and attractions.“
Back home, Garcia set out to “do something about it.” Through research, he
found IBCCES (the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education
Standards), an organization that was already training employees at big tourist
attractions such as the Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park and the Mall of America
in Minneapolis to supportively engage with visitors who have cognitive
disorders. Garcia is now on its board of directors, and in the fall of 2019,
Mesa, Arizona’s third-largest city, became the first Autism Certified City in
the world.
At first, Garcia hoped to train guest-facing staff at 50 local businesses, but
to his surprise, the interest was so immense that not only hotels, restaurants
and other businesses set up training for their employees, but even the fire
department and the police participated. “The mayor, the city’s Parks and
Recreation Department, the Chamber of Commerce, everybody wanted to be a part
of this journey,” Garcia remembers. Already at the first event, 150 people
showed up. Now, all of Mesa’s parks, recreation and community facilities and
museums are autism certified. “The domino effect was amazing,” he raves."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
