Zoom Autism Magazine Issue 3 Spring 2015 | Page 53

members of the public who just
don’t understand what they’re
witnessing. One company, Auty
Not Naughty, makes t-shirts
and hoodies to avoid confusion!
We’ve done our bit at AuKids,
too, creating a range of our own
clothing designed to give inspiring and positive messages about
autism. You can order them in
the States or anywhere. (Click
here to go to the store.)
Despite the economic gloom
and some members of the
public who would be better off
keeping it zipped, there’s some
real hope on the horizon for
families living with autism. One
step in the right direction is the
creation of autism-friendly environments, which has happened
over a relatively short period of
time. It started with the Odeon
cinema in Manchester, which
became a trailblazer for autismfriendly cinema screenings.

After the success in Manchester,
Odeon cinemas rolled out autism-friendly cinema screenings
once a month throughout the
UK. Eager not to be left behind,
Cineworld followed suit and
soon after was joined by Showcase and Vue cinemas.
This set a precedent: autismfriendly initiatives were no longer a one-off affair; they were
company-wide. Theatres started
getting in on the act (pun intended!), promoting “relaxed”
performances. There’s even a
circus company (Circus Starr)
that has released its own app
to prepare kids for its inclusive
shows.
Department stores are beginning to catch on, and this
month, AuKids will be rolling
out some autism training to a
John Lewis store in Manchester
for its shoe-fitting department.

The store is eager to shine in
this respect as it has done in
many other aspects of customer
care in this country. Much more
needs to be done, but the signs
are good.
There is still much work to be
done before the positive effects
of the Adult Autism Strategy
start to filter through. There’s
also a mammoth job to be done
in educating teachers in mainstream schools about autism.
Sadly it seems that many primary schools are failing in this
respect, and the problem of
bullying prevails in our high
schools.
In general, whilst everything’s
not rosy in the garden of autism, there are many emerging
shoots that we should nurture
in our efforts to create a more
inclusive society in the UK.

Left to right, our friends from across
the pond, AuKids magazine co-editor
Tori Houghton, distributor Tim Tuff
(who is on the spectrum) and co-editor
Debby Elley.

Zoom Autism Through Many Lenses

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