"Waiting Area - An Autistic Person’s Perspective"

We visited the minor injuries unit last night and were told to take a seat in the waiting area. During this wait (about 15 mins) there were so many noises, mostly coming from young toddlers using the children’s play area. The play gate is wooden and there was a toddler continually pulling it open and closed and whenever it was flung open it would slam closed creating a very grating slamming sound. With the TV only being on low volume it meant all I could focus on was the series of different noises, then the sounds of the chairs in the waiting room moving then when we were seen by someone, a nurse came over and used the flip top bin which slammed shut making another very loud notice, I think the open space and acoustics in the building make it worse.

I hope you will consider making some adjustments so this isn’t so stressful for a person with autism who is very sensitive to noise and cannot filter out the sounds.