Back in July Morrisons introduced a Quiet Shopping Hour every Saturday between 9am-10am. For people with autism and sensory overload disorder this has been a very welcomed initiative as shopping under normal conditions with noises from music, intercom and till bleeps can be unbearable at times.
Matt Foulger, who works as a People First Supporter at Ace Anglia and has autism, said, “It gives people who have autism the opportunity for them to live good ordinary lives as part of their community and not rely on people to do things like food shopping for them.”
The National Autism Society have been campaigning for more retailers to have similar initiatives. The National Autism Society had 10,000 shops sign up for their Quiet Hour days on 6th October and 13th October. This is creating awareness to the needs of autism and sensory overload. Hopefully more shops will make quiet hours a permanent fixture in the future.
Matt agreed with this, “I feel that more shop should be more open to having quiet hours and more training should be given to their staff. This awareness would lead to a better understanding why it is important for people who has autism and sensory overload disorder to shop in a quiet environment.”
