Helping autistic people have a good flight is a quite noble task. Recently British Airways launched a visual guide that will help its autistic passengers navigate through their journey with confidence and comfort. Autistic people have different ways to process things, their brain works differently and that means that regular guides and notes may be a problem for them. Airlines must look at this fact and accommodate the needs of all their passengers, which is part of providing great customer service.
British Airways partners with Learning Rose and wins Autism Friendly Award
British national carrier British Airways announced in a press release published at the end of March, that it has partnered with Learning Rose and created a Visual Guide to Flying that contains several sections describing all stages of the flying experience. According to the press release, each of these sections describes a stage of the flying experience. Processes like arriving at the airport, going through security take-off and landing and even flight connections are easily explained using symbols and text. This will help autistic passengers prepare and navigate through the whole experience with much more confidence and comfort.
The guide can be downloaded from the British Airways website and it is endorsed by the British National Autistic Society which has awarded the airline the Autism Friendly Award. According to the article, British Airways is the first airline to receive this award in the UK.
Learning Rose
Learning Rose is an organisation founded by Rebecca Taylor, the mother of an autistic boy, she herself had been a British Airways employee before founding this institution which helps others have a better understanding of autism. She designs support materials that help people with autism and other disabilities. According to the article, Rebecca is very proud of this partnership with her former employer and added that her experience as a cabin crew member and as a mother of an autistic boy made her understand that flying may sometimes be an overwhelming experience for autistic people, so she created this institution to help them have a much better experience.