I\’ve been seeing more and more of these recently: mainstream events designed around, or directly for, people with special needs. In my particular community, there is no nationally-branded amusement park, but both major theater groups (AMC and Celebration) offer sensory-friendly showings of various movies. I\’ve been to one on accident: it was more or less the same as a regular showing, except the lights were on in the theater, there was a kid running up and down the stairs a lot, and it was a bit more socially acceptable to have a quiet conversation with the person next to you.
What made this particular event at Six Flags interesting to me is that they effectively closed their doors to most of the population of the US, in the name of being autism-friendly. The amusement park did, of course, offer accommodations in various places for overstimulated children. Most places do that. Most places, however, don\’t bar the general public from the event. On this one day, Six Flags did exactly that, allowing only autistic children, their families, and specially trained teachers into the park.
The article\’s author notes that the reasoning is quite valid: even one intolerant person is enough to make a whole family feel unwelcome. Making the park only have people that have experience dealing with autism and the difficulties and differences that come with it means there\’s far less of a chance of some judgemental loudmouth asking the parents \”why they can\’t control their child,\” or some similarly thoughtless, useless remark or question.
As a non-parent, I am admittedly not an expert in this area… but it occurs to me that children are literally small humans, and it\’s not exactly possible make any human be a perfect little puppet. Especially if they\’ve got difficulties and differences like mine. Even if they\’re little.
Regardless, such remarks or other hurtful words and actions can really alienate autistic people and their families, so this step, while rather bold, is perhaps not unwarranted. It\’s a single day in their year, as well, so it\’s probable the amusement park\’s profits weren\’t too severely dented. I would be kind of curious to see a count of the attendance that day, though. Amusement park admission isn\’t cheap, and a lot of families with autistic members don\’t have a lot by way of disposable income. From the fliers, it looks like there were sponsored admissions through at least one organization, though.
I\’m not sure what to think of these exclusive events. While I recognize the legitimacy of keeping the general public out so that we can enjoy ourselves without worrying, I\’d hate to see it become a trend. Exclusion negates the possibility of inclusion. We can\’t teach neurotypical people to include us and see us as people if we exclude them from our events.
I doubt it\’ll become that widespread of a trend, though, so I\’m glad these events exist.
realisticautistic 