What is autism friendly design?

It's simply design that respects persons on the autism spectrum.

It really shouldn't be necessary to explain why we need autism-friendly design. I mean, one reason why we are autistic is because of the space around us. But, many are still oblivious to this fact so it's obvious that you need an explanation.

Why persons on the spectrum needs autism friendly design

From my point of view it's because of tree things

1 We have a different way of experiencing the senses. We take in the senses differently and therefore experience them differently. Our senses can be hypo or hyper. Meaning that we either take in too much from our senses or too little.

2 We are wired differently. The normal brain simplifies things over time, ours doesn't. This can come to the consequences that we can't retain information from one situation and reuse it in another situation. This of course takes a lot of energy for us.

3 We often can’t automatically read other people's expressions. Something people often forget is that if we have problems with reading other people's expression, we often also have problems with reading ourselves. So if a space is problematic for one of our hypersensitivities, we inherently doesn't know that

This of course takes a lot of energy from us. Some people like to use the metaphor that it would be like to force a wheelchair user to climb up the stairs every day. But of course, a  wheelchair user is quite obviously a person with a disability. So normally people don't even realize that they are abilistic or disablistic to someone with a hidden disability.

The most important reason why we need autism friendly design is because it's a spectrum. If it works for us it also works for everyone else.

Ok, I will now line up some basics that you could consider when creating an autism friendly space.

The basics, what do you need?

First things first, what do you actually need?

Autism is a spectrum so there are as many solutions as there are persons with autism. The biggest mistake you can make is to assume that there's a one fit solution for all. If you're autistic yourself this is not a big of a problem. Testing and retrying is part of the process to find what works for you.

The problem is when autism parents assume what the right solution is. Autism parents don't know how it is to be autistic and, not to be harsh, they don't know how it is to live a life in constant exhaustion.

There are many ways to figure out what you need to create an autism friendly space.

First thing you can do is the obvious one, what are your hobbies and interests.

Secondly, how do you feel in space? Where do you feel calm and where do you feel anxiety etc. Coming soon Link to emotion wheel

Third, what are your sensory needs? Do you need a calm space or do you need a space where you can be loud? Coming soon  Link to sensory map

Fourth, what are your physical needs? This is what we normally think of when talking about accessible friendly spaces, But one thing that people sometimes forget here is cognitive disabilities, which is something that we with autism have. Coming soon What are cognitive disabilities

Then when you have figured everything out, or at least got the basics, you begin with the foundation.

The foundation, what can you do?

In a perfect world, autism would not be a spectrum but an easy to read manual that you got the day you were born, but life isn't like that. It changes all the time and so also autism. One day you can be perfectly content with one thing and suddenly nothing works at all.

It's the same thing when you're creating an autism friendly space. You can do a lot of things but what you need to begin with is to create a neutral foundation for those days when nothing works at all.

Ok, and what are those?

Most of the points down below are based on Magda Mostafas research (ASPETCSS). But there's also mixed in things that I've simply found throughout the years.

Sound

Many of us on the autism spectrum have problems with sounds. But not only are we highly sensitive to sound, we can also have a need to listen to sounds. As I said earlier, we can both be hypo or hyper sensitive. Therefore it is important to provide spaces for these things simultaneously.

Your hearing isn't something you simply can't turn off so many people in the spectrum say that this is one crucial thing to begin with to create an autism friendly space.

Ohh, another special thing with us who's autistic, our ability with habitations doesn't work that well for us either.

Things you can do to create a better sound environment in your home

Isolate the sound. Is it possible to add a wall or door? Can you add insulation to the walls?

Reduce the sound. How's the acoustics? Can you add textiles to the space to create better acoustics

Remove the sound. Does the e.g. laundry machine need to be in the corridor, can you move it to the garage?

And I know right now what you parents to autistic children think, should I remove my child to another space when she/he has a meltdown.  And my answer is no!!!!

Moving a child who has a meltdown or tantrum is something you only should do if it's for their own safety. If you're moving the child you're only creating a solution that only works until the child is so big that you can't move she/he any longer.

Lighting

Fluorescent lighting is probably one of the most famous things that individuals with autism are highly sensitive to. But it's not only fluorescent lighting that's troublesome. Harsh lighting is also problematic so it's important to layer different types of light in a space.

Things you can do to create a better light environment in your home

Remove every fluorescent lighting. Remove every fluorescent lighting you can find. If there's only one fluorescent light-source in the light fixtures you can normally just buy a led converter. If not, by a new light fixture.

Add layers of lighting. Layers, layers, layers. You need layers of lighting in your home to make it comfortable. Normally we talk about three types of lighting.

• General lighting
• Accent lighting
• Task lighting

Add the possibility to scenes, dimers, moods etc. Now in the age of smart technology we have the opportunity to easily change the warmth and brightness of lamps, and that's amazing. Adding different types of modes in lighting also gives an opportunity to communicate what's expected of the space.

Simplify

A “normal” person can adapt to different experiences because their brain can use information from a similar situation. The autistic brain doesn't work like that. Each and every situation is treated like a completely new situation with almost no similarities to previous ones. This is also why there's a trope that autistics often invent new and innovative things. It's not that we are wired to invent new things, it's just that we have to do it to survive.

As you can imagine, living like this is quite tiresome. A better solution to this is to simplify and make things easier.

An acquaintance of mine uses what she calls the two step rule. If it takes more than two steps, it's too complicated. E.g. you open the drawer to take out a pan, but to get the pan you need to move another pan first. This storage solution is therefore too complicated as it takes three steps to do it.

Safety

Impulse control is not our best thing and we can be a little forgetful. But ve can also be hypo- sensitive to things like pain and heat. Considering these things are therefore really important, even more important when it's a child on the autism spectrum.

Things you can to to create a safer environment:

Remove the heat. People on the spectrum sometimes can have problems reacting in time to heat. Make sure that water taps are at the right temperature and that water taps in bathtubs and showers don't have leavers that accidentally change the heat on the water. Add safeguards to the stove, change it to an induction or add a timer if you're an adult etc.

Be a rule breaker. Some regulations say that a 120 cm ( 4 feet) fence is high enough for a child. Wheel that's not high enough for a child that's in affect. Evaluate every risky thing that you or your child has ever done and see if there are any easy safety solutions to that.

Be an explorer. This point is more for parents. Autistic children have a different sensory need so sometimes we do things that can seem a little bit odd and mischievous. But the reality is just that we have a need for different sensorial experiences. Some of the can be:

• Oral sensory need. If we have hyposensitivity in taste we can search the home for things to put in the mouth. These things don't even need to be food, it can be anything.
• Touch sensory need. If we have hyposensitivity in touch we can search the home for things you pour/squeezes out and play with.

I think most parents have experienced this sometime, it's a normal part of the toddler stage. But it also something that we who’s autistics do throughout our life.

High and low intensity areas

Something that many of us who's autistic can struggle with is the transition from one thing to another . This is due to many things.

One is that we take in our surroundings through our senses differently. One is that we process information at a different pace. Another thing is that we sometimes need predictability. Finding the thresholds in your daily life can therefore be one way to make your life more autism friendly.

A threshold is when you start to experience something. If we then add on all the different layers we can find in autism we get a picture of an experience that's a little bit different from the normal. As I said, we can be hypo or hyper sensitive in the senses. But we can also be fluctuant in our senses. So in theory, if you are hypersensitive to sound, it may only be for some frequencies or some types of sounds. And if we also add on the fact that some people on the spectrum have problems with habituation

So a threshold can be where you change from one type of activity to another:

• Reading- Listening
• Running - Sitting still
• Painting  - Building etc. etc.

It can also be a difference in sensory experience.

• Cold- Warm
• Wet- Dry
• Loud- Calm etc. etc.

And many many more.

…. If you think about it, we have thresholds everywhere in our life.

When we enter a building, when we wash our hands, when we see someone passing by our home…and so on

We now realize that it's not enough to create a space where the brain has time to process the change in experience. We also need to create a space where we can choose our experience in terms of the senses and even what we do.

To do this you can find the thresholds and create low intensity areas around the high intensity areas so there are a choice in the space.

Safe space

The last and most important basis to create when creating an autism friendly space, is to create a safe space. A safe space is a space that's neutral in sensory input and it should be assumed that the person could be left alone there.

A safe space should never be utilized as a space where the person with autism is placed in when you don't know where to put her/he. A safe place is a space where the person on the spectrum on their own can retreat to when they need to recuperate.

Conclusion

What is autism friendly design?

Autism is a spectrum so there's no conclusive answer to that. When creating an autism friendly space you need not only to consider the user, but also the fourth dimension of time.

It's an iterative process where you always have to go back and forth with different solutions. Here I just mentioned some few things you can begin with to get a sense of what an autism friendly space is and to get a grip on where to begin.

Truthfully, I've met so many different persons with autism throughout the years and the more I see the more I know that I don't know anything at all really. So what I'm trying to say is that to create a truly successful autism friendly space is to explore and always evolve your solutions to something else. There's never a clear answer to anything, only reflections of reality.

Autism is a spectrum and as we like to say “ If you have met one person on the spectrum you have met one person on the spectrum”.