Manchester Airport Launches Free Autism Guide, England

Main Category: Autism
Article Date: 02 Apr 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Travelling through airports can be a daunting experience for anyone but for some people with autism the prospect is enough to stop them travelling abroad, which is why Manchester Airport has launched a unique information guide designed to help passengers travelling with children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) so that they know what to expect.

The free printed guide, called 'Airport Awareness', uses airport images to show what to expect on your journey through Manchester Airport, starting from arriving to checking-in to going through security and returning home.

The guide is the initiative of airport employee, Katy Gough, who secured funding from the airport's Customer First scheme, which invests in staff suggestions that improve the airport for passengers.

Launched today to coincide with World Autism Awareness Day and the start of the busy Easter season, Katy created the guide after several passengers requested photographs of the airport to allow them to plan their trip. Katy, who works as a Press Officer at the airport, has personal experience of the disorder through a member of her immediate family and wanted to use her experience to help those passengers whose children have ASD.

Children with ASD, which is a lifelong developmental disability, can get distressed if their routines alter but can cope well if they are prepared for the change in advance. This guide is designed to be one means of preparing people travelling by air.

There are over half a million people in the UK with autism. The unfamiliar sights and sounds of the airport can cause a great deal of stress and worry both for the young passengers with ASD but also their families.

Katy explained: "I've worked with several autism charities such as Bolton Kidz2gether, The National Autistic Society and Autistic Society Greater Manchester Area to understand what makes travelling through airports difficult. The main problems are that the airport environment is an alien one and processes such as check-in and security require co-operation with strict guidelines. However, by including chronological information in the guide about each stage of travelling through the airport and by illustrating the guide with photographs, parents are able to plan their journey with their child, helping them to understand what to expect.

"It's our aim that by launching this guide on World Autism Awareness Day, many people affected by the disability will hear about the guide and use it as a way to experience foreign travel for the first time."

Jane Asher, President of the National Autistic Society, said of the book: "I'm delighted by Manchester Airport's useful and understanding initiative: an airport can be a very confusing place for anyone, and for someone on the autism spectrum it can be especially frightening and disorientating.

This well illustrated and clearly worded book will be a great help to parents, carers and children with autism themselves, and provides not only useful information but pages of fun and puzzles which will help to make their time in the airport less traumatic and far more fun."

Sarah Barrett, Head of Customer Experience at Manchester Airport, said: "We want to make every passenger's journey as easy and stress free as possible and Customer First is a great way to achieve this as the ideas come from Manchester Airport staff. We're the first airport in the UK to launch a guide like this and I'm sure that all the work that Katy and the charities have put into creating it will make it a great success".

The free guide is available from the information desks in all three terminals and has also been supplied to local autism charities and schools with special needs units. The guide will also be available to download from the Manchester Airport website.

- Autism is a lifelong developmental disability with no cure. Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the term that is used to describe a group of disorders, including Autism and Aspergers syndrome, the characteristics of the condition vary from one person to another.

- World Autism Awareness Day aims to unite the global autism community to build attention to this growing health crisis. Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism advocacy organisation, has a series of international events to heighten awareness about a disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Autisms Speaks is dedicated to increasing awareness of ASD, to funding research into the causes, preventions and treatments for autism, and to advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.

- Autism is a complex brain disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships, and is often combined with extreme behavioural challenges.

Source
National Autistic Society