Drive to make Mallow ‘autism friendly’
MALLOW is amongst 11 Irish towns on the journey to becoming autism-friendly.
SuperValu, in partnership with AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism charity and advocacy organisation last year announced Clonakilty as Ireland’s first Autism-Friendly Town and 11 towns, including Mallow, are now on the journey to join them.
In conjunction with the announcement, a survey conducted by AsIAm showed that presently, the autism community in Ireland does not find society accessible, understanding and inclusive - but that simple steps could be taken to help change this.
Simple measures can be the difference between exclusion and inclusion, and the survey showed it wouldn’t take a lot for people with autism to have their experiences improved. For example, 50% of respondents said that even if staff were understanding of autism it would greatly improve their experience.
SuperValu is pioneering these changes in-store, and they have also been the enabler in trying to make communities autism-friendly in general through their Autism Friendly Towns campaign. In its first year, the campaign has grown significantly in scale.
Having begun as one town, Clonakilty, and is set to welcome Mallow, as well as 10 additional towns. The aim of this campaign is to communicate the message that communities fully accessible for autistic people are stronger, more sustainable places to live.
Paul O’Mahony, owner of SuperValu Mallow, commented, “SuperValu Mallow is delighted to be on a journey to help make our community more autism-friendly. As well as autism-friendly shopping in our store we’re working with organisations and businesses throughout the community to make Mallow inclusive and autism friendly.
“We have a fantastic Autism Friendly Committee here in Mallow. I am confident that our journey to getting accreditation will be a successful one!”
AsIAM CEO Adam Harris added: “As Ireland’s National Autism Organisation we are proud to have developed a robust but achievable framework for communities to become autism friendly, in partnership with our colleagues in SuperValu.
“Autistic people live, work and play in every community across the country. Too often a lack of understanding prevents autistic people from fully participating and contributing to the community.
“Small steps can make a big difference and communities working together to increase understanding and improve accessibility will bring about happier, healthier lives for autistic people.”