Greystones To Be Certified Autism-Friendly Town

They’ve got the whole isle in their hands…

hanks to the introduction of their low-lit, music-free Tuesday evenings back in April 2016, Daly’s SuperValu have helped Greystones make the grade as an officially autism-friendly town.

With Clonakilty confirmed last year, Greystones is now one of 11 about to be certified by Ireland’s national autism charity, AsIAm.

And where Daly’s led, Lidl Greystones followed in March 2018.

Here’s the official spiel…

SuperValu today announced that Greystones is amongst 11 Irish towns on the journey to becoming autism-friendly. SuperValu, in partnership with AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism charity and advocacy organisation last year announced Clonakilty as Ireland’s first Autism-Friendly Town and 11 towns, including Greystones, are now on the journey to join them.

In conjunction with the announcement, a survey conducted by AsIAm showed that presently, the autism community does not find society accessible, understanding and inclusive – but that simple steps could be taken to help change this. A total of 240 people were surveyed who either have autism or know someone closely who does. Those surveyed were asked several questions about their perception of how autism is recognized and understood in retail and in the wider community.

Despite the majority of those surveyed claiming that the public do not understand enough about autism, 71% believe awareness and understanding of autism has increased in Ireland in the last year. On this, AsIAm CEO Adam Harris says that “awareness and understanding of autism needs to shift to acceptance and support”.

Simple measures can be the difference between exclusion and inclusion, and the survey showed it wouldn’t take a lot for people with autism to have their experiences improved. For example, 50% of respondents said that even if staff were understanding of autism it would greatly improve their experience.

SuperValu is pioneering these changes in-store, and they have also been the enabler in trying to make communities autism-friendly in general through their Autism Friendly Towns campaign. In its first year, the campaign has grown significantly in scale. Having begun as one town in Clonakilty, Co Cork it is outstanding to now welcome Greystones, as well as 10 additional towns. The aim of this campaign is to communicate the message that communities fully accessible for autistic people are stronger, more sustainable places to live.

Anne Daly, Owner of SuperValu Greystones commented, “SuperValu Greystones is delighted to be on a journey to help make our community more autism-friendly. As well as autism-friendly shopping in our store we’re working with organisations and businesses throughout the community to make Greystones inclusive and autism friendly. We have a fantastic Autism Friendly Committee here in Greystones. I am confident that our journey to getting accreditation will be a successful one!”

AsIAM CEO Adam Harris added, “As Ireland’s National Autism Organisation we are proud to have developed a robust but achievable framework for communities to become autism friendly, in partnership with our colleagues in SuperValu. Autistic people live, work and play in every community across the country. Too often a lack of understanding prevents autistic people from fully participating and contributing to the community. Small steps can make a big difference and communities working together to increase understanding and improve accessibility will bring about happier, healthier lives for autistic people. We look forward to supporting these towns as they go on the journey towards our accreditation.”

You can check out our April 2016 interview with Paddy and the local Triple A Alliance gang, back when SuperValu took that good turn right here.