Autism Hour’s official partner leads campaign as hundreds of businesses set to make shopping more autism-friendly.
Toy retailer The Entertainer is calling on retailers and shopping centres to do more for autistic people in the UK.
With over 700,000 autistic people living in the UK, The Entertainer recognises the huge importance of welcoming autistic people into its stores.
The retailer has once again teamed up with The National Autistic Society’s Autism Hour campaign. Throughout the initiative, The National Autistic Society calls on retailers to participate in creating autism friendly environments across the UK. This year’s campaign is currently running until October 12.
The dedicated daily hours are designed to show businesses the simple steps that can be taken towards improving shopping experiences for those who struggle to filter out sounds, smells, sights and information, often making public places overwhelming.
In 2018, over 11,000 businesses made adjustments for autistic people during the campaign, consisting of a total of 30,000 Autism Hours.
“Joining the National Autistic Society’s Autism Hour is the absolute minimum retailers should be doing to support autistic people across the country,” said Gary Grant, founder and executive chairman of The Entertainer. “It’s important that retailers support autistic people and their families and we’re proud to operate our own weekly Quiet Hour.”
All Entertainer stores now run a Quiet Hour during their first hour of opening every Saturday, plus the first hour of opening every day in the school holidays.
In addition to Quiet Hour, five of The Entertainer stores have been awarded an Autism Friendly Award from the National Autistic Society. These stores are Westfield London, Amersham, Solihull, Worcester and Cwmbran.
The Entertainer is committed to working towards an Autism Friendly Award for all 170 stores in 2020.
Tom Purser, head of campaigns at the National Autistic Society, commented: “The Entertainer are a fantastic example of a retail store which has taken great strides in becoming autism friendly. We are so pleased that The Entertainer are committed to creating a society which works for autistic people and are proud to have them sponsoring Autism Hour 2019.”
