Amid growing awareness in Malaysia of the difficulties faced by individuals with genetic autism disorder, Sunway Putra Mall is making groundbreaking efforts to scale back the barriers that prevent this group of individuals from venturing out to public places.
From January 2019, the shopping mall management will address issues that we regularly take as a right, but constitute an enormous obstacle for individuals with autism – from flickering or too shiny lights to the kind and volume of ambient music.
“Tenants will also participate in our Autism Friendly Tuesdays,” said General Phang Sau LIan. “These will include priority checkout queues for autistic families, making their visit to our shopping center locations much more enjoyable.”
To help ease the stress faced by families and friends of autistic people, she said, starting next month, the mall’s lighting brightness and ambient music shall be reduced on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to five p.m.
To fully profit from the mall’s initiative, individuals with autism must register on the concierge desk and receive identification wristbands, Phang said, in order that they can enjoy a variety of advantages, including parking privileges.
“We are still working on how best to be autism-friendly and this is only the first phase of our shopping center-wide effort. We welcome feedback from the public and those caring for autistic people so that we can improve.”
As a part of this initiative, the shopping mall has established cooperation with the Autism Behavioral Center based in Bangsar Baru. The private facility, which celebrated its second anniversary this month, helps families diagnosed with autism, a category of complex brain development disorder.
Claiming to be the biggest certified applied behavioral therapy (ABA) center in Malaysia, it operates from 9am to 5pm on weekdays and greater than half of the available therapy sessions, that are priced at around RM4,000 per 30 days, are fully utilized.
Current participants are only 18 months old and the oldest is currently 34, but director Charlene Marie Samuel said the ABA methodology might be used at any age.
She added that partnerships with public facility operators resembling Sunway Putra Mall open up latest opportunities for autistic people to get out of their homes and revel in things that the majority people take as a right.
“Even getting a haircut can be a stressful experience due to sensory overload. While our tried and tested therapies help autistic people cope with the demands of today’s lifestyle, every little bit of help in reducing the obstacles they would otherwise have to overcome makes a huge difference.”
Source : CYBER-RT
