With the footy season now well underway, St Kilda Football Club is setting the standard for a more inclusive game.
In an AFL first, St Kilda Football Club, in collaboration with Amaze, has introduced a quiet room for people with Autism. The room is designed to reduce the sensory overload that can be experienced by people with Autism during a football game.
According to Fiona Sharkie, CEO of Amaze, “the normal behaviour of fans enjoying the football at stadiums can be too much for kids with autism.”
“Now, with the quiet room, they can come to games, deregulate in the quiet room, then return to the stadium or stay and watch the game in the room.”
The room is dimly lit, quiet and contains calming actives which children and their parents can use any time during the game allowing them to continue to watch the game in a safe and specifically tailored environment. Headphones and football-shaped stress balls are also provided for kids to use and decorate.
The AFL’s inclusion team hopes that, by 2022, all clubs will provide calming rooms.
The room is available free of charge at all St Kilda Marvel Stadium home games for the 2019 season.
You can read more about this initiative here.