Home > News > Our 'My Five' Campaign Launches in Partnership with St. Enoch

Our 'My Five' Campaign Launches in Partnership with St. Enoch

We're delighted today to launch our new ‘My Five’ campaign, in partnership with charity partner Glasgow’s St Enoch.  This new initiative is aimed at making retail outlets, supermarkets, restaurants and cafes more welcoming and accessible for autistic people. During this busy festive period, we will consult directly with the autistic community seeking suggestions on what small adjustments retailers and other businesses can make to create a more welcoming and accessible environment for autistic individuals and their families.

St Enoch will provide suggestion boxes located at their Customer Service Desk and Quiet Area enabling both autistic individuals and their families to submit their views.  The campaign will be further supported digitally and will appear across our website and social channels. The top five suggestions collated from this public consultation will then inform free guidance available to all retailers and businesses which are committed to providing a more welcoming and accessible environment for their autistic customers.

Launching today’s campaign in partnership with St Enoch, our Fundraising Manager, Karen Wilson said: “For many autistic people and their families a trip to the shops or a restaurant can be extremely stressful. The sensory aspects of busy public places along with the often unfamiliar sights, smells and sounds that accompany such a visit can be over-whelming and off-putting for some.

“We’re therefore very pleased to be working with St Enoch to launch our ‘My Five’ campaign, and demonstrates their on-going commitment to making the centre more accessible and welcoming for autistic customers. At the heart of this campaign is providing the autistic community an opportunity to provide suggestions that are useful and meaningful to them. Through this public consultation we aim to provide guidance informed by the autistic community that businesses can download free from our website about small adjustments they can make to create a more welcoming and accessible environment for autistic customers and their families.

“In the longer term we also hope to roll out this campaign to include a wider variety of publically accessible places including music venues, cinemas, workplaces and public transport.”

Anne Ledgerwood, General Manager of St. Enoch Centre, said: “We are proud to support this important initiative which demonstrates St. Enoch’s on-going commitment to making the centre more accessible and welcoming for autistic individuals and their families.

“At the start of this year, we launched a dedicated quiet and safe space which was an important first for the city’s shopping facilities and the quiet space is designed to support autistic people and those with learning disabilities and sensory conditions within a busy shopping environment.

“We are keen to make St. Enoch Centre as welcoming and accessible as possible and look forward to receiving these important suggestions.”