We had a really great workshop earlier this month with Tammi Poppe, an autism expert from Shawano County. The folks at the workshop learned a lot about the autism spectrum and some great things to consider when providing services. Here is one:

For someone who has a lot of sensory sensitivity, sometimes visual, auditory, or tactile stimuli are very painful. So, for instance, look at your lights. The lights we have at IFLS are panels with flourescent long bulbs. Did you know that they flicker and that this is physically painful to someone who is sensitive? I can’t even tell that they flicker! Even though it might not be possible to revamp your entire lighting system, here are a few things that Tammi suggested:

• Have a full spectrum lamp or study areas near natural light source
• There are diffusers or covers you can purchase to put over the panels
• If your budget can’t handle that, Tammi suggested purchasing gauzy/silky fabric (in a calm color) and attaching that to the panels will help cut down on the glare and flicker

If you weren’t able to make it to the training and you would like more information, you can take a look at the Power Points, available on our website.

This seems like a possible grant project for next year, there are some concrete, tangible things we could do in our libraries that would make them more manageable for people on the autism spectrum. As Tammi pointed out, behavior is communication, and if people are comfortable in our environment it will really help! If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me, or leave a note in the comments.