Marking Autism Awareness Month

Did you know that April is Autism Awareness Month? Amgueddfa Cymru values all our visitors and it is important that we consider people with different needs to the majority of us so that everyone feels welcome in our spaces and as valued members of staff.

For our visitors, we are promoting our quieter times on our website for all of our sites and have highlighted areas that could cause sensory overload on our maps. The National Waterfront Museum also has a chill-out room for those who need some time away from a busy environment. More work is under way to improve our offering to visitors with disabilities – keep an eye out for these throughout the year.

David Enright is the Deputy Visitor Services Manager at National Museum Cardiff and sat down to tell us about his journey to becoming an Autism Awareness Trainer and to share how the untapped resource of skilled people are having a positive impact on the visitor experience at National Museum Cardiff.

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What’s great about working in such an institution as National Museum Cardiff is that everyone knows us and the amazing work that goes on here. This means that young people see it as an interesting and varied place to do their work experience because they get to try lots of different and varied things during their time with us. I’m passionate about giving young people opportunities in our spaces, and so I accommodate requests from schools and Careers Wales for work experience whenever I can.

About 12 years I ago, I noticed that there was an increase in people coming to us for work experience who were on the autistic spectrum. I wanted to make sure that in giving people the opportunity to come to us, that I was also able to support them and I saw understanding autism as being key to helping them thrive during their time with us. I was untrained in how autism would present itself and what the triggers might be, but I was full of good intentions.

After meeting some of the passionate people, and seeing how interested they were in the work we were doing at the museum, I began to wonder: “What happens to these people after they’ve done their two weeks work experience with us? Wouldn’t it be great if we could retain them and benefit from their inquisitive and interested nature?”

Autism is a developmental disability, and because of the ways that the disability can present itself – repetitive or restrictive behaviour, and social communication and social interaction challenges for example - people on the autistic spectrum sometimes find it difficult to find meaningful long-term work. But my experience working with people on the spectrum has been the total opposite to this – people with autism can be very employable with valuable skills and they are great colleagues to work with. 

I got in touch with the National Autistic Society and soon enough, I was trained in autism awareness. Feeling more prepared, I welcomed more people to our front of house team for work experience and for permanent or pool work on our team. We even started to become known by some specialist agencies for providing these opportunities for people with autism, which was a good sign that we were doing something right!

I later trained as an autism awareness trainer with the Welsh Local Government Association and I now run training at National Museum Cardiff which is open to everyone across Amgueddfa Cymru.