Creating Inclusive Spaces Together: Building a Sensory-Friendly World with Collaboration

It Takes a Village: Including Sensory Friendly Solutions

Creating inclusive spaces that are welcoming for everyone benefits from helping hands! While sensory-friendly practices are a key component, achieving accessibility and inclusion is greatly helped by a collaborative effort. This blog post will introduce the role that Sensory Friendly Solutions plays in this journey of creating inclusive events, environments and experiences. Moreover, it will also explain the valuable and necessary contributions of other key stakeholders. Importantly bringing together: people with lived experience, disability groups, and businesses and organizations to create inclusive spaces, and finally employees and customers themselves! Together, we can make a difference. Remember: many hands make light work!

The Importance of True Inclusion

Inclusion goes beyond simply accommodating disabilities. Importantly, it’s about fostering a welcoming environment. An environment where everyone feels valued, empowered to participate and like they belong. At Sensory Friendly Solutions, we beleive this deeply.

A message from Christel Seeberger:

As founder and CEO, I bring not only 30 years of expertise as a regulated health care practioner, but also a my personal experience as someone living with a hearing disability. I, like the people we want to change the world for, experience sensory sensitivity and sensory overload. As a result, my unique perspective fuels our commitment to creating inclusive spaces that benefit everyone, not just those with disabilities, but that importantly includes them.

The Sensory Friendly Solutions Difference: Your Trusted Partner in Creating Inclusive Spaces

My little team and I work diligently so that Sensory Friendly Solutions acts as a central hub of knowledge and guidance with our evidence-informed training, certification, consulting and product recognition options. For example, we go beyond simply offering information! We provide counsel, advice, and training on sensory-friendly practices. Our expertise in creating sensory-friendly environments that cater to a wide range of needs is driven by several key factors:

• Lived Experience: Again, my lived experience with sensory sensitivity and sensory overload is the reason why I founded Sensory Friendly Solutions. We also have paid Sensory Experience Advisors, outside of our team’s lived experience, we bring people in to review our materials.
• Research-Based Approach: Our research assistants diligently review the latest evidence and scientific studies to ensure our training materials and recommendations are based on the most up-to-date knowledge.
• Diverse Team: We believe in the power of lived experience. As mentionned, we hire and pay people with various disabilities. They inform the development of our materials, and resources at different points along the way. Thus, we ensure we reflect real-world needs and challenges.
• Client Collaboration: We learn from each of our business clients who we train. Furthermore, through collaboration, we gain valuable insights into the unique challenges and opportunities faced by different organizations when creating inclusive spaces.
• Staying Current: We closely follow industry trends and best practices related to sensory-friendly design and inclusion. This ensures our training programs remain relevant and effective in today’s ever-evolving landscape.

By combining these elements, Sensory Friendly Solutions offers a comprehensive and well-rounded approach to creating inclusive spaces that are welcoming and comfortable for everyone.

Our role, creating inclusive spaces with you includes:

• Staff and Customer Education: We equip your staff with the knowledge and tools to understand sensory sensitivities. We teach how to interact with customers who may have them. Furthermore, we also help you craft messaging for your customers to explain your commitment to sensory-friendly experiences.
• Event and Location Strategies: Whether you’re a museum, a restaurant, or a retail store, we’ll guide you on creating sensory-friendly spaces that are both welcoming and practical. For example, this includes advice on everything from lighting and sound management to providing fidget toys and quiet areas.
• Staff Adoption: Implementing change can be challenging. As a result, we provide resources and support to help your staff seamlessly integrate sensory-friendly practices into their daily routines. As a result, fostering a more inclusive environment. Importantly, your team and staff need to be involved in the solutions you create!

Beyond the Basics: A Network of Expertise for Creating Inclusive Spaces

However, Sensory Friendly Solutions isn’t the only player on the field. Specifically, to truly build a sensory-friendly world, we need to leverage the strengths of various groups. By working together we create inclusive spaces:

• Disability Associations or Groups: These organizations are champions for specific disabilities. They possess in-depth knowledge about the lived experience of those disabilities. Disability associations also provide valuable resources and support to the disability community. They play a vital role in creating inclusive spaces. We partner with them on many joint-projects. And, it is important that you include them in your efforts to foster accessibility.
• Businesses and Organizations: You know your staff, customers, and location better than anyone! Your hands-on experience is vital in implementing sensory-friendly practices that are practical and effective in your unique space. Furthermore, involving and including every member of your team unleashes deep understanding of your specific needs and solutions.
• People with Lived Experience: They are the ultimate authority on how their disability impacts them in everyday life. Importantly, their insights and experiences are invaluable in guiding the development and implementation of sensory-friendly solutions, ensuring true inclusivity. Moreover, inclusion isn’t about creating spaces for people with disabilities, or any difference, it’s about creating spaces with them. The problem we are solving together, isn’t the person with the disability, it’s the environment or space that may not be designed to accommodate their needs. The person isn’t the problem, the physical or built environment is the problem! By working together, we can build environments empower everyone to participate fully.
• Your Clients and Customers: In particular when you are introducing change, it is important to engage and communicate with the people that your business or organization serves! Your clients and customers have important insights and feedback to give so that your sensory-friendly solutions are a fit for them, too!

Working Together for a More Inclusive World

Imagine a world where everyone feels welcome and comfortable! Let’s create a world where sensory sensitivities are understood and accommodated, creating inclusive spaces for all. The most important message I deliver is to let people know what to expect at your event, location or experience. That way they can decide if it is a fit. And, offer options. People can then also choose a sensory experience that is a match for their needs. It isn’t about removing the “sensory-richness” of the world. It is about creating choice. Sharing information. And creating inclusive spaces that allow for both sensory-friendly and sensory rich experiences. This vision can become a reality when each group contributes its unique expertise.

A Symphony of Strengths: A Summary of How Diverse Stakeholders Create Inclusive Environments

• Disability Associations: Offer resources on specific disabilities, fostering inclusive spaces.
• Sensory Friendly Solutions: Provides comprehensive solutions for creating sensory-friendly environments: training resources, certification, consulting, product recognition and ongoing support. We look at the evidence, the experiences of others, the research, and we use my 30 years of experience and my own experience with disability, too!
• Businesses and Organizations: Implement sensory-friendly practices based on the guidance of Sensory Friendly Solutions. But wait, the success of any sensory-friendly initiative hinges on the deep involvement of staff, volunteers, and leadership within businesses and organizations. They possess a unique and invaluable expertise – an intimate understanding of their day-to-day operations and the specific needs of their customers. This insider knowledge is crucial for crafting sensory-friendly solutions that work! When staff, volunteers, and leaders actively participate in creating sensory-friendly experiences, they bring a level of practicality and customer-centricity! Be sure your sensory-friendly solutions are effective and sustainable.
• People with Lived Experience: Share their experiences and feedback, helping businesses and organizations refine their practices to ensure inclusivity. Their insights create a powerful force for accessibilty and being sensory-friendly. Their firsthand perspectives on what works and what doesn’t for their own experience and daily life is not only helpful, but essential for ensuring that sensory-friendly solutions are not just well-intentioned but truly effective in creating a welcoming and comfortable space for everyone.
• Your Customers and Clients (maybe this is even your Employees): Moreover, be sure that you invovle and engage with the people you are serving at your business and organization!

Ultimately, everyone benefits: businesses, organizations, and the entire community at large, as we work together to create inclusive spaces.

The Power of Lived Experience in Creating Inclusive Spaces

As stated and critical to your efforts: the role of people with lived experience goes beyond providing feedback. They are the ultimate consumers of sensory-friendly solutions and play a vital role in creating inclusive spaces. They have a wealth of experience in:

• Receiving Products and Services: They understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to sensory-friendly offerings for their own, personal, and unique experience.
• Participating in daily life: Their experiences can guide the creation of inclusive environments that allow everyone to engage fully in activities and events, fostering a more inclusive space.

By incorporating the voices and experiences of people with lived experience, we can ensure that sensory-friendly solutions are not just well-intentioned, but truly effective in creating inclusive spaces.

Sensory Friendly Solutions understands the importance of creating inclusive spaces like no other. Led by me, Christel Seeberger, Founder and CEO, who possesses not only 30 years of experience and deep subject matter expertise in sensory sensitivities, but also a personal understanding as someone living with a hearing disability. This unique perspective, combined with Sensory Friendly Solutions’ collaborative approach, empowers businesses, organizations, and individuals to work together and build a world that’s welcoming and comfortable for everyone.

Check out my video about our Training Membership where you get access to all the courses you need to create sensory-friendly experiences:

Find our most popular, foundational blog for businesses:

Interested about Creating Inclusion at Work?

• Building a Stronger Team: How Hiring and Supporting Employees with Autism Benefits Your Business
• Why Workplace Inclusion Training with a Focus on Sensory Sensitivity Matters

Finally, understand how sensory-friendly fits with sensory inclusion:

• Demystifying Sensory Inclusion: Where Everyone Feels Welcome