Are you or have you seen a railroad attraction, museum or ride offer special programming, amenities or displays for visitors on the autism spectrum or that have an intellectual, developmental or physical disabilities?

As part of our long term future events and programs planning, we're considering ways to make the immersive, tactile world of railroading available to as many people as possible, and this includes children and adults with disabilities.

These types of places and experiences are called "pal friendly" places and described as such:

"Just as wheel chair ramps and ADA accommodations enabled those with mobility challenges to more easily travel, shop, visit entertainment venues, and attend sporting events, our proprietary set of technology-based learning resources open communities to people with non-visible disabilities. We believe this type of inclusion, which makes it easier for a diverse spectrum of thinkers and communicators to participate in activities many of us take for granted, can be socially and economically transformative.

Some examples outside our industry:
https://www.palexperiences.org/hosts
https://www.palexperiences.org/hosts/odysea-aquarium

What I find particularly interesting is how this site breaks down experiential elements that help inform people beyond the targeted audience: loudness levels, walking, crowd sizes, average stay duration, quiet rooms, etc.

I think one big asset our industry has collectively is that so much of what we offer is by way of touch, sound, taste, experience, etc. and anything developed to help disabled visitors benefits others, too. Of course, our industry can often be hard pressed to offer displays, designs and programs for "normal" visitors -- but developing strategies to serve this part of the population helps open up new opportunities for grant-making, funding and visitation.

I just recently read that the Conway Scenic Railroad has started offering such an experience known as “Sensory Friendly Fridays” in which they use a single enclosed diesel rail car and flag crossings to minimize the need for the horn: https://www.conwayscenic.com/blog/senso ... y-fridays/.

I’m hoping this type of excursion becomes a widely embraced event on tourist railroads, especially when so many rail enthusiasts on the spectrum often seem to have difficulties coping with the extremely loud and highly overwhelming environment of an operating railroad packed with a large volume of visitors.

I personally am on the autism spectrum, and would greatly appreciate the efforts of tourist lines to be inclusive of families and individuals with autism and other special needs.

I'm on the autism spectrum at the Aspergers Syndrome end, am 58 years old and would tremendously enjoy an opportunity to research in a museum's archives while others in my group ride the train and tour the grounds, etc. Allowing such research to occur (with appropriate supervision) and encouraging possible findings therefrom to appear in the museum's publications or website may encourage further donated materials since donors realize they will be used and not simply stored.

The North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC had its first autism-friendly day back in May of this year:
https://charlotte.kidsoutandabout.com/c ... ion-museum

It's not a railroad attraction, but the Atlanta airport has a program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families and aviation professionals: Wings for Autism acclimates children, adults to air travel

Appreciate the group discussing this as I have a teenage son with Autism. I volunteer with a railroad museum and he enjoys coming along with me. I have been hoping to learn more about the types of services a museum needs to provide to appeal to these special guests, so any thoughts from the group are appreciated.

The Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History in Georgia offers a program on the last Tuesday of each month. We have visited this museum and enjoyed it, but we did not visit on one of these days. Hope to go back one day to learn more.

https://www.southernmuseum.org/children-families

When I was with TVRM, we ran a special trip that was organized by the local BLE for children who required use of oversized wheelchairs or mobility scooters. We removed all of the tables and chairs from the dining car and coupled it to the commissary car. The commissary car was used as it has baggage doors and a wide aisle. With advanced notice, TVRM's trains can pretty much accommodate anyone.

Serving patron with disabilities is a natural step in expanding our potential market. One thing to consider is how your gift shop/ticket staff communicate to the train crew that you have a passenger who has a wheelchair/mobility assistance device that needs to be accommodated. Our ticket agents unfortunately had a habit of calling on the radio and telling us they had a wheelchair for us. We specifically told them not to use that terminology-that they could just say we had a passenger who needed assistance or that we needed to spot on the ramp.

I am on the autism spectrum as well, and I can attest to how sensory-friendly events are Godsends to me, and I would love to try out railway museums that have them.
As a side note, I was grappling with my condition this afternoon as I was chasing Big Boy 4014 from Faribault, MN, to ultimately Rosemount, MN. Due to my autism, I am not too keen on crowds, because lots of people gathered together generate a lot of stimuli, and towards the end of my chase I was seeking vantage points that were not too crowded. Like Burt Lancaster at the climax of The Train, I had to do a lot of searching before I finally found one after burning up a lot of mental and emotional energy down in Faribault, where I met up with an old friend and mingled with the crowd, often resorting to prerecorded (not live) music on my MP3 player to help me stay focused. Autism is no picnic to deal with, especially since it can, and often does, cause a physical reaction as well as emotional when it hits severe levels: elevated blood pressure.

A couple of related stories from working events at Orange Empire. I help supervise the front entrance area during "Day out with Thomas" and my co-supervisor told how she had observed a mother and son enter and thought boy had characteristics of autism. On the out the mother said that they had a young man car attendant who identified the boy's autism and provided her with a number of resources that she was thankful for receiving.

At the end of the weekend I ended up seating with a father and son members at a local cafe. The conversation turned in several directions. I knew the son was a high function autism and attending community college. The father told of how he and his wife had bucked the current theory when the son was young and utilized his interest in railroads to break through the autism and help connect the boy with the wider world. I mentioned the previous story and the young man said that the car host would have been him as he was always willing to contact with parents of autistic children and offer a variety of resources such as parent groups, etc.

At the Cuyahoga valley scenic we have a wheel chair and handicap car that is equipped with seats that fold down and allow wheel chairs to be secured to the floor. We also have a program of teaching our trainmen how to use the wheel chair lift. On the 2 trips I have actually worked the car had much fan fair. Allowing wheel chair bound people to enjoy the Cuyahoga national park in a way that lets them see it otherwise they wouldn't.

In my earlier reply about the North Carolina Transportation Museum, I mentioned their first autism-friendly day. I neglected to add (on the physical disabilities aspect) that passenger trains there offer wheelchair accommodations. One passenger car has an electric wheelchair lift, allowing those passengers access to a seating area with wheelchair tie-downs. Another passenger car's entrance is wide enough to permit wheelchair access, which, when combined with either platform height and/or a manual wheelchair host (similar to what's used at Amtrak stations), also permits access for physically disabled patrons. In addition, paved sidewalks and ramps make much of the buildings accessible as well.

While not railway related, this article is right in line with this thread.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/travel/autistic-travelers-hotel-amusement-parks.html

Whenever we had passengers using wheelchairs or mobility devices that were too wide to fit through the serpentine aisles of the passenger coaches, our trainmen were instructed to ask the passenger if they could walk short distances. The reason for this is quite simple-the vestibule is not a safe place to ride and it is often uncomfortable there. If the person was able to walk, we would explain that the vestibule is not a safe place to ride and that they would be more comfortable inside the coach.

Why is the vestibule an unsafe place to ride? First, the vestibule is generally designed to crush or buckle in the event of a high energy collision-it's the crumple zone. Second, the vestibule is chock full of hard objects to hit your head or other various body parts on if you should lose your balance. I've seen more than my share of passengers injured by riding in the vestibule-even at low speeds.

I was interested in revisiting this subject with some kind of listing of places offering such "sensory sessions" for what I now have been firmly and haughtily lectured elsewhere are now referenced as "neurodivergent."

According to my Facebook feeds, the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore and the RR Museum of Pa. in Strasburg are now regularly offering scheduled sessions designed for these patrons and their families--every two months, in the case of the B&O Museum:



I had one wag suggest: "You know, most of that used to be what we called 'a regular day at the museum'....."
However, yes, I've seen a few museums with a few too many "noisemakers," from the loco simulator to the CLANG-CLANG-CLANG of a trolley cab mock-up with actual trolley bells, from model/toy trains looping on a layout to any computer terminal or screen that prompts an automatic search by any young person for the Internet or a computer game..........