It’s hard to deny that tech has made a huge impact on all of our day to day lives, but for those with autism tech can be a vital part of how they interact with the world. I am sure many of you saw the BBC piece on Pokemon Go and how it is changing the lives of young people with autism. It has gotten to the point where charities are writing about the apps success and there are even people looking at how the game can help build social skills, helping them conquer their fear of the outdoors.
Autism and Safe Spaces:
This surge of articles made us think that now was the right time to talk about one of our projects. In the next few months Kino is going to be working with a local school to help create “safe spaces” using our Sonos range. This use of sound to help those with “sensory sensitivity” is nothing new, but it is something that often gets over looked due to the costs involved with things like speakers. Often the focus is on blocking out noise rather than replacing negative sounds with something calming or familiar, and although there is certainly a place for sound proofing it isn’t the be all and end all when it comes to making an area feel “safe”. This is something we are going to try and keep everyone updated on, it’s an area that I know a lot of people are really linked to and it’s a topic that could connect with a lot of our clients in a big way. Nearer the time we are going to try and interview some of the teachers and get some more details out. This will be a big learning experience for us and we hope to pass on any kind of insight we might get, hopefully this will help others use sound in their own safe spaces.
We are really excited to be working on this, and although it’s early days we don’t think it will be the last job of it’s kind. There is a real need for custom installs like this, and our set up puts us in pretty good place to advise people on what tech they need. Being able to do every part of the job from start to finish also helps a lot, it means we can be quicker and a lot less intrusive than having multiple teams in and out at all hours. On top of that it’s just nice to be able to do some good in your work, and we find this kind of job one of the most rewarding .
