Cork town officially recognised as being autism-friendly following work by local parents 

A CORK town is now officially recognised as being autism-friendly, thanks to the work of a local group of parents of autistic children.

The committee of Autism Friendly Blarney, 10 local mothers of autistic children, some of whom are themselves autistic, came together last year to work with the autism charity AsIAm to make their town autism-friendly.

Officially launching Blarney as an autism-friendly town on Wednesday evening, AsIAm founder, Adam Harris, said he was delighted that another Cork town was following in the footsteps of Clonakilty, which in 2018 became Ireland’s first autism-friendly town.

“It’s based on a simple concept, which is that autistic people have to adapt every day to a world that isn’t built with them in mind, but that small accommodations in the community by others do two things: they make the mundane tasks most people take for granted, like going to the shops and taking the bus, that little bit easier, and then secondly, there’s the long-term benefit of living in a community that recognises the invisible barriers you face and tries to meet you half-way,” he said.

“Unfortunately, our community has very bad outcomes in terms of social inclusion, life expectancy, health, and so much of that comes from exclusion and isolation within the community.”

Mr Harris said awareness of autism was “through the roof”, with polls showing that a majority of people know someone who is autistic, but that awareness was not translating into understanding and acceptance of autistic people.

He added that the growing number of local communities becoming autism-friendly helped to raise understanding and also was of benefit not just to autistic people, but to the larger community.

“If you take the example of having a quieter shopping time, where you reduce lighting and turn off music, that’s also helpful for people with hearing aids, people with migraines, people with dementia.”

Niamh Garvey, a founder of Autism Friendly Blarney, said that as part of the process of becoming autism-friendly, representatives of local schools, businesses, sports clubs, and services had committed to acting as autism “champions”.

“The next step is rolling out the training for the champions, in affiliation with AsIAm,” Ms Garvey said.

“This is the most important part of the project, as it will bring autism understanding to the community. Through understanding, acceptance will grow,” she said.