An Asda superstore manager has thought of a very clever way to help out its autistic and disabled shoppers.
Simon Lea, the manager of the Cheetham Hill branch, in Manchester, will be introducing a ‘quiet hour’.
This means they will stop its escalators and turn off all in-store music and displays TV’s to make it a more comfortable environment for people with autism, Manchester Evening News reports.
All disabled and autistic customers will also be given a map of the store – which includes more pictures than words – to make it easier to move around the shop.
Simon is hoping that these changes will mean ‘you’ll be able to hear a pin drop’, when the first quiet hour begins at 8am on May 7th.
Speaking to the M.E.N, Simon explained why he decided to introduce this new measure:
This boy was playing absolute blue murder, kicking and screaming. His mum just looked drained. She told me he suffers from autism. He was having a meltdown.
So, to calm him down, Simon gave the boy a 50p voucher and a £1 football.
He continued:
This lad looked at me and he started playing with the football. His mum was the happiest I have ever seen anyone and just for giving him a football.
After consulting with colleagues and disabled customers, Simon decided to implement this ‘quiet hour’ and it seems this incident has also changed his perspective on life.
He added:
It’s all about helping people really. Six months ago I would have said ‘control your child’ even though I’ve got children. But speaking to people with autism and disabled people has helped me think about how I can make it a better place to shop. I suffered for many years with anxiety. I used to absolutely hate going into busy stores. There are a lot of people out there who have mental health issues. There are many people who don’t talk about it. We have a lot of disabled customers and we want to make the shop better for them.
And the response to this move has been overwhelming:
An absolutely amazing idea, fair play to him!
