0:00

Okay, do me a

0:02

Radio. News. a Music. Think

0:06

of the busiest

0:09

public space

0:11

in do me a favor for

0:13

a second. Think of the

0:15

busiest public space in your city or

0:17

town. How do you feel when

0:20

you're there? For

0:22

some of us, us, these busy spaces

0:24

are energizing. The The rush of people,

0:26

the noise of the crowds, the sounds

0:28

of the cityscape. It can be

0:30

appealing to a certain type of person,

0:32

type of but for others, for the crowds

0:34

and the noise can be a

0:37

little much. much. and for

0:39

some neurodivergent people, especially those

0:41

with sensory issues, being

0:43

in these public spaces can

0:45

be completely overwhelming, harmful

0:48

harmful even. And that's a problem

0:50

when you want to to

0:52

need to use these spaces

0:54

just like everybody else. else.

0:56

Today on All in the Mind, on have

0:58

the Mind, a we have something

1:00

a little different for you.

1:03

Audio engineer and producer Amelia Geist is

1:05

taking you inside their mind a

1:07

a first -hand perspective of what

1:09

it's like to move through public

1:11

spaces as someone with

1:13

sound sensitivities. And

1:15

learn more about how these

1:18

sensitivities manifest in the brain, the

1:20

strategies for managing them, them,

1:22

and new approaches to designing

1:24

public spaces for better inclusivity

1:26

and accessibility. and accessibility. Here's Amelia.

1:35

One of the first noises I remember being

1:37

terrified of was the sound of water

1:39

going down the bathtub drain. water going a

1:41

child, I remember covering my ears and running

1:43

out of the bathroom my soon as the

1:45

plug was pulled out to avoid the scream

1:48

of as soon as the plug was pulled

1:50

just to avoid the scream of water.

1:52

To this day this To this day,

1:54

my this sound makes my body tense up

1:56

in my heart race. Benign as it may

1:58

it may sound. understand. that this

2:00

response is a symptom of my autism. autism.

2:02

My sound My sound sensitivities went

2:04

beyond having an aversion to nails on

2:07

a chalkboard. I experienced a

2:09

a lot of frustration and anger from

2:11

the sounds that other people would make. make.

2:13

I I couldn't understand why other

2:15

people couldn't hear how loud they were they

2:17

were being. Like

2:20

many autistic people assigned female at

2:22

birth, my autism was missed in

2:24

childhood. I I struggled to pay attention

2:26

in the noise of classrooms. My

2:28

My teachers reported that I was My

2:30

parents who were My parents who were neurodivergent themselves

2:33

also missed the symptoms of autism in

2:35

me. They didn't notice that

2:37

turning the on on or vacuuming

2:39

would send me spiraling into a rage.

2:41

was constantly I was constantly experiencing sensory

2:43

overload and would regularly have

2:45

huge that that were dismissed as

2:47

adolescent temper tantrum. Our

2:50

bodies aren't meant to be

2:52

in this constant state of

2:54

stress. My My emotions were so

2:56

dysregulated from being constantly overstimulated

2:58

that I was misdiagnosed with

3:01

borderline personality disorder. personality now have

3:03

complex post -traumatic stress disorder and vagal

3:05

nerve dysfunction, nerve which I partially attribute

3:07

to the stress of being an

3:09

undiagnosed autistic for 18 years of my

3:11

life. for 18 And I was one

3:13

of the lucky ones. one of the lucky people

3:15

are signed female at birth, female much

3:17

later in life, much later in all. all.

3:21

Getting a a of autism Disorder at

3:24

18 was a turning point for

3:26

me. point for me. Once I I began to understand

3:28

why I was so sensitive to sound in

3:30

my environment, I could start

3:32

to accommodate myself. myself. I'm I'm now

3:34

22. on I turn on subtitles when watching or shows

3:36

or films so that my brain doesn't have

3:38

to work as hard to decipher the sounds it

3:40

is hearing. I I to lip

3:42

read in loud environments because my brain

3:44

can't tune out background noise. noise.

3:46

I also began wearing noise noise cancelling

3:49

high -fidelity earplugs to navigate public spaces

3:51

which were previously too loud for

3:53

me to be which in. too

3:55

loud for me to be comfortably in. I

3:57

I live in Melbourne, and many cities.

4:00

It full of loud and unpredictable noises. noises.

4:02

This is is what Melbourne sounds like to me. to

4:04

me. I

4:21

grip my teeth from the sound of brakes

4:23

screeching. The bells of of trams, dinging,

4:25

me. me. I hear a hundred voices

4:27

talking all around me. all It's so loud

4:29

that I can't even hear my own

4:31

thoughts. hear my own thoughts. This is This is what

4:33

I hear when I put on my

4:36

headphones. I

4:53

can finally hear myself think. think. I no

4:55

I no longer jump at loud noises

4:57

can I can tolerate being in loud

4:59

environments longer. Although Although blocking out

5:02

sound an an imperfect solution, it's it's

5:04

helped me to better regulate and reduce

5:06

the frequency I frequency overload. sensory

5:08

overload. But why are are autistic people

5:10

like me so sensitive to sound in

5:12

the first place? place? The

5:18

brain will subconsciously highlight

5:20

sounds that are important,

5:23

including sounds perceived as as

5:26

What determines what sounds our subconscious

5:28

brain highlights is connected to

5:30

our limbic system where our

5:32

emotions are processed. So therefore our emotions

5:34

emotions and beliefs about sounds

5:36

influence our subconscious This is filtering

5:38

of sounds. This is Philippa

5:41

James, at the an audiologist and

5:43

researcher the at the University

5:45

of Melbourne in the Department

5:47

of Pathology. Pathology. Autism runs the

5:49

Clinic and is and is interested

5:51

in sound sensitivities in autistic people.

5:56

Why are autistic people like me

5:58

more sensitive to sound? allistic

6:00

non -autistic people. people?

6:03

Yeah, it's a good good

6:05

question that we don't don't

6:07

really have a specific

6:09

answer for. What likely

6:12

contributes to these auditory

6:14

processing variances are are differences,

6:17

which can

6:19

include hyper higher focus

6:21

and distractibility. as well as

6:23

higher levels of stress, leads

6:25

which leads to to specific trigger

6:27

to specific can further which can

6:29

further fuel the reduced

6:31

tolerance and its associated physical

6:33

and emotional symptoms. Philippa

6:35

says there are four main

6:38

types of auditory differences she

6:40

sees in autistic people. in One

6:42

is auditory filtering, which is

6:44

which is a a broad term

6:46

to describe the ability to

6:49

hear, function and respond to

6:51

auditory information in the the of

6:53

noise. of noise. The next thing

6:55

that I see a lot

6:57

is is sound tolerance in

6:59

the form of specific conditions

7:02

that we can call we can call

7:04

hypercusis and or And I

7:06

see that in about 75 about of

7:08

the people that come into my

7:10

clinic. Auditory attention

7:12

differences are also really

7:14

common. And the

7:17

last type of auditory

7:19

difference that I

7:21

see commonly specific auditory processing

7:23

skills. the one of the

7:25

most common ones is

7:27

something that we call speech

7:29

discrimination in noise, which

7:32

is the ability to perceive

7:34

what somebody is saying

7:36

amongst competing background noise. noise. I

7:38

I experience all of these auditory differences. In

7:41

In conversations, feel it can feel like my

7:43

brain is lagging behind. takes me a few It takes

7:45

me a few seconds to piece together the

7:47

has someone has spoken into words. have to guess what

7:49

I often have to guess what someone is

7:51

saying or ask them to repeat themselves. struggle with

7:54

I particularly struggle with holding a

7:56

conversation in noisy environments as I

7:58

can't filter out background noises distracted. can

8:00

also can also cause me to feel

8:02

pain or anger that other people don't. One

8:05

of the of the disorders that

8:07

causes this is is hyperacusis. Hyperacusis

8:09

is type of decreased

8:11

down tolerance. It's defined

8:13

as an abnormal intolerance a

8:15

a heightened sense of

8:17

volume. and and physical

8:19

discomfort towards certain sounds which

8:21

other people can tolerate

8:23

well. tolerate well. Sounds that are

8:26

typically difficult to tolerate tolerate are

8:28

loud impact sounds, particularly

8:30

if they're unexpected or in

8:32

close proximity to the

8:34

person. to the person. can be

8:36

things like alarms, sirens

8:39

going off, loud environments

8:41

like being out in a a

8:43

train station or a shopping centre

8:45

there's a lot of background noise.

8:48

noise. The other decreased sound tolerance

8:50

condition I struggle with is

8:52

called with is which Philippa describes

8:54

as describes as response to certain

8:56

response to irrespective of their

8:58

volume. of their volume. that can

9:00

trigger this reaction are things like

9:02

chewing, of drinking chewing, keyboard or keyboard clicking.

9:05

They're often sounds made by other people. by other people.

9:07

The sounds that really set me off

9:09

are sniffling and eating noises, including my

9:12

own. I feel annoyed feel I

9:14

can't concentrate on anything else when

9:16

I hear them. else when I hear

9:18

to these sounds these sounds

9:20

results in disproportionately high

9:22

levels of anger or

9:24

rage or rage, with strong

9:26

reactions of irritation or

9:29

disgust. for people

9:31

with these conditions. conditions, is the

9:33

brain responding this way? this way? When people

9:35

with decreased sound tolerance conditions, conditions,

9:37

feedback cycle of attention,

9:39

perception, reaction and focus develops,

9:41

which puts people in

9:43

a constant state of in a

9:45

constant The brain and flight. be

9:48

however, to reverse this process

9:50

reverse over time so that

9:52

people can start to start

9:54

to their trigger sounds. trigger

9:56

The first important part

9:58

of this or of of supports

10:00

to people with these

10:02

conditions is education and validation.

10:04

stress and anger And stress and anger

10:06

management strategies can help to regulate

10:08

emotions for people with decreased sound

10:10

disorders. disorders. The response is involved

10:13

in this feedback cycle

10:15

that fuels hypervigilance to trigger

10:17

sounds and our response to

10:19

trigger sounds. So on that side

10:21

of things can help

10:23

the brain to not highlight

10:25

these trigger sounds if

10:27

that makes sense. It's all

10:29

a bit So So

10:31

mindfulness, breathing work, etc. Anything

10:34

that you do to help

10:36

with overall stress and anxiety is

10:38

really important and beneficial. After

10:41

validation, and stress management is

10:44

something called is enrichment. called An

10:46

intolerable sound is less obvious

10:48

in the presence of another

10:50

sound. of So sound enrichment

10:52

basically involves adding sound to

10:55

your environment. sound The aim is

10:57

to surround your trigger sounds

10:59

with a low a low-level neutral

11:01

pleasant sound which can be

11:04

selected and controlled by the

11:06

user and easily ignored. So

11:08

it's not something like

11:10

music or you know we're seeing to

11:12

a podcast. It would be

11:14

about finding a sound that sound neutral to

11:17

pleasant. Hopefully more to pleasant. Hopefully side. the

11:19

pleasant side, something that you can have

11:21

on in the background and it's not

11:23

going to going you at all. For a

11:25

For a lot of people this might

11:27

be something like an environmental sound, so

11:29

like waves crashing or the sound of

11:32

rain on the roof. sound,

11:40

so like

11:43

waves crashing

11:46

or the

11:49

noise, or brown

11:52

noise, or or pink

11:54

noise, rain on the roof.

12:00

So there are a lot of different options and there

12:02

are a lot of tracks lot of

12:04

different options of sounds on, you are

12:06

a lot of tracks that

12:08

have these sorts of sounds

12:10

on sounds in this way can boost a person's

12:12

says using sounds in this

12:15

way can boost a person's

12:17

confidence in navigating acoustically unpredictable

12:19

environments. to listen to music, to listen

12:21

to music, noise to used pink noise to

12:23

help me concentrate when studying in a

12:25

library. library. Pink noise like this. this.

12:30

you

12:32

Using in this way can

12:34

boost boost confidence in moderately unsafe

12:36

or acoustically unpredictable environments could you

12:38

could potentially be exposed to

12:41

one or more of your trigger

12:43

sounds. though you you could have

12:45

it on the background background. and even

12:47

turn it up if you

12:49

need to to sort of into your

12:51

own own bubble to help with you know regulating

12:53

and then come out of then come out

12:56

of that again when you're feeling

12:58

a little bit more regulated. strategies do strategies

13:00

do you discuss with patients with

13:02

decreased tolerance disorders to be able to

13:04

better navigate public spaces? spaces? If a

13:06

space is space unsafe,

13:09

which most is feeling really

13:11

unsafe, be which most public

13:13

spaces would be for someone

13:15

with a condition, condition trigger sound could

13:17

trigger sound could pop up

13:19

anywhere at any time. There's

13:21

that unpredictability there. there. If feeling

13:23

really unsafe really you don't necessarily

13:26

need to be need to be communicating

13:28

socializing, then wearing

13:30

noise cancelling technology is

13:33

technology is appropriate and

13:35

can be really valuable. you're

13:37

in a you're in a situation where

13:39

you're feeling like it's an unsafe or

13:41

environment for you, but you need

13:43

to be able to. to be able to

13:45

socialize, communicate, be be able

13:48

to hear what somebody's saying.

13:50

noise -canceling technology is not

13:52

going to be necessarily appropriate.

13:54

There is an is an option that I of,

13:56

I guess, provides a little bit of noise

13:59

attenuation, but still allows you to hear what

14:01

you need to be able to hear,

14:03

and that is that ear plugs. earplugs. may have

14:05

heard of of or or flares. You You

14:07

can also get custom filtered

14:10

earplugs. Filtered earplugs work better

14:12

than those cheap foam earplugs. earplugs.

14:14

Foam Phomia plugs do a reasonable job

14:16

of reducing the overall the you hear,

14:18

but they do so unevenly. So,

14:20

So, things sound unnatural. natural. Whereas

14:23

filtered earplugs sound more evenly across

14:25

the pitch range so that

14:27

music still sounds good. You

14:29

can access speech pretty well,

14:32

well, but pretty but your, you know, the edge

14:34

is taken off sound in in general. The

14:36

only only downside of filtered

14:38

earplugs is that you can't

14:40

use the sound and rich

14:43

friend approach with with them. the

14:45

other options that can can

14:47

facilitate enrichment where you

14:50

can you can audio stream bone

14:52

conduction headphones, remote

14:54

microphone technology, or or

14:56

low gain hearing aids.

14:58

basically there's a variety

15:00

of options, both both

15:02

sort of earplugs,

15:04

headphones, also other and also

15:06

other technologies. open that you can

15:08

keep your ears open, that you

15:11

can try, and couple people might

15:13

have a combination of a couple of

15:15

different things depending on the context that

15:17

they're in and how unsafe they're feeling

15:19

their in their auditory environment. For

15:22

anyone that's listening listening along

15:24

that relates to having a

15:26

decreased sound tolerance sound tolerance disorder

15:28

that they that they might have

15:30

one, what? you think they should

15:32

you think they should take to reach

15:34

out for support? would be The first

15:37

step would be to see an

15:39

audiologist who specializes in sound sensitivities. if

15:41

you're you're finding that difficult, then then

15:43

another place you could go to

15:45

would be be Australia website

15:47

that might be able to lead

15:49

you to particular clinicians who

15:51

work in this area. Even Even

15:53

if you go in for a

15:55

standard hearing test with an

15:57

audiologist who doesn't necessarily specialize in

15:59

area. hopefully will will be able to

16:01

lead you to one who does. this interview

16:04

with Philip James, this interview

16:06

with Philippa James, I was

16:08

unaware that there were other therapies

16:10

and technologies beyond noise or headphones or

16:12

filtered for with people with decreased sound

16:14

-holerance disorders. Perhaps this

16:16

is due to a is due to a

16:18

lack of resources available for autistics with

16:21

decreased sound sound tolerance. There is

16:23

plenty of clinical evidence about the

16:25

connection between autism and to create

16:27

autism disorders. sound Sound sensitivity is a

16:29

part of the diagnostic criteria for

16:31

autism. But for though I

16:33

am diagnosed with autism, with autism,

16:35

no professional has ever suggested that I

16:37

see an audiologist. The lack

16:40

The lack of support for with

16:42

with decreased sound tolerance disorders has

16:44

negatively affected me. me. My

16:46

reliance on noise cancellation and earplugs

16:48

at times times my symptoms of

16:50

of and and mesophonia. If I had

16:52

known that there were other

16:54

options available, I would have sought

16:56

out an audiologist sooner. sooner. On

17:06

ABC Radio National, to All in the

17:08

Mind to me, the Sana Khadar. me,

17:10

Sana Today, Today, producer Amelia Geis it's like

17:12

to move through the world

17:14

when you have a sensitivity to

17:17

sounds. And along And along with

17:19

the ways individual people can manage

17:21

sound sensitivity, there is

17:23

a growing movement to improving

17:25

the design of public spaces

17:27

for sensory accessibility. This is

17:29

in the spirit of a

17:31

design philosophy called philosophy called universal design.

17:38

We've talked about the ways that

17:40

decreased sound tolerance disorders can be

17:42

treated medically, but there are other

17:44

approaches to thinking about disability. about disability. According

17:46

to the social model of

17:48

disability, people are disabled by

17:50

social and environmental barriers. Unlike the unlike

17:53

the medical model of disability in

17:55

which disability is seen as a personal

17:57

impairment difference that needs to be treated

17:59

medically. The social model of

18:01

disability recognises that disabled

18:03

people benefit from benefit from

18:06

universal design. design. universal

18:08

design in terms of the the

18:10

environment it's really around designing an

18:13

environment that is usable by

18:15

the widest range of possible

18:17

users, Thinking of sort of

18:20

the widest spectrum of

18:22

abilities and creating environments that

18:24

cater to of needs. This wide

18:26

range of needs. This

18:29

is Catherine Grant. who is an occupational

18:31

therapist an is currently working

18:33

as an access consultant

18:35

at and and Access for Neurodiversity. Accessibility

18:37

is a bit more

18:39

grounded in in standards, whereas design

18:41

is more of a philosophy.

18:43

of a You never fully

18:45

achieve something that's universally designed.

18:47

can always be. designed

18:49

to be more inclusive. It's

18:52

sort of a be more and

18:54

not a product or an

18:56

end point not a such. or

18:58

does an as consultant do? an

19:00

An access consultant is one

19:02

of the consultants that works

19:04

in developing or designing a

19:07

building. We work We work mainly

19:09

with architects and building designers

19:11

to provide advice around the

19:13

built environment and how that

19:15

can be made accessible for

19:17

all users and that includes

19:19

people with a disability. the work

19:21

that And the work that

19:24

we're doing at the moment

19:26

is around design for neurodiversity. so

19:28

so how people that that are neurodiverse experience

19:30

space and these these built environments? How

19:32

does does the Australian

19:35

disability community inform

19:37

your workers' access consultants? engage

19:39

with lots of different organisations.

19:41

Currently, we're working with with Amaze,

19:43

which which is the peak

19:46

body for autistic people and

19:48

their supporters. But at But at

19:50

other times, we will work

19:52

directly with people with a

19:54

disability where possible. There There are

19:56

some Australian standards that that inform

19:59

our advice and our to

20:01

architects. And And these standards

20:03

are basically developed by committees

20:05

that have people with

20:07

a lived experience form so

20:09

they form knowledge their collective

20:11

knowledge of these around some of

20:13

these areas. Public spaces

20:15

and as footpaths, parks and public

20:17

transport facilities are often full

20:19

of noises like people talking, traffic,

20:22

music These construction. be distressing

20:24

These sounds can be distressing for people

20:26

with decreased sound tolerance disorders or sound

20:28

sensitivity. So

20:30

what protections are in place

20:32

to ensure sensory access in

20:34

Australia for people with sans

20:36

sensitivity? sensitivity? doesn't really tend to

20:39

accommodate to a variety

20:41

of sensory needs. needs. And

20:43

I think it's think it's for multiple reasons, I

20:45

think I the concept is rather new. is rather

20:47

to a lot of architects and

20:49

designers, but also also they're not aware

20:51

of how users have these diverse

20:53

experiences. Iliana Guinness, like Catherine,

20:55

works works as a

20:58

neuro -inclusive access consultant at

21:00

and Access. Access. Ileana is

21:02

an interior architectural designer.

21:04

disability support worker, and a

21:06

PhD candidate her research her research in

21:09

developing a series of design

21:11

principles called Mind, mind, which considers

21:13

non users with with profound intellectual disabilities

21:15

in built environments. To

21:17

me me, it seems like there's a bit

21:19

of an irony in the fact that we

21:21

call these these spaces spaces when they're not

21:23

necessarily designed with the whole public in mind.

21:26

the What are your thoughts on this? What are

21:28

your thoughts on this? that's very, very true.

21:30

very true. not enough, I don't think.

21:32

I don't think. of these organisations that

21:34

run these public public sort

21:36

of facilities users engaging these

21:38

specific sensitivities. So

21:40

there's a limited awareness awareness and therefore

21:42

these mistakes keep getting repeated. repeated

21:45

within public space. Therefore, you know,

21:47

users know, users tend to not participate.

21:49

So it So it actually becomes exclusive

21:51

design where people will to not use these

21:53

spaces spaces a result of the unpredictable

21:55

sensory environment. environment. For

21:57

sake, let's pretend I'm not I'm

21:59

not. the 21 .4 %

22:01

of disabled Australians, why

22:04

should designing public spaces to

22:06

be accessible for disabled people

22:08

matter to me? an Australia

22:10

has an obligation under the Rights

22:12

of on the Rights of

22:14

People with to make make environments

22:16

accessible and universally designed. So I think

22:19

as think as Australians, we

22:21

have a social conscience and

22:23

we know it's the right

22:25

thing to do. to do. I I

22:27

don't think that the general community is

22:29

actually missing out on creating. out on creating more

22:31

accessible spaces, it's actually increasing their experience

22:33

just as much as someone with a

22:35

disability. much as someone whether you're approaching

22:37

a building and you're in

22:39

a wheelchair and there's only stairs.

22:41

there's that could be someone approaching

22:44

a building that's pushing a that's

22:46

know, an elderly person with

22:48

a walking frame. a I think I

22:50

think providing the accessible entrance that's

22:52

convenient and equitable, it's providing

22:54

access for a whole range of

22:57

people, not just people with

22:59

a disability. What are

23:01

the ways that public spaces can

23:03

can be acoustically designed to

23:05

be accessible for people with

23:07

sound sensitivities? One of

23:09

the considerations our team is

23:11

looking into into currently the use

23:14

of sensory zoning, where we're

23:16

considering low stimulus zones and

23:18

high stimulus zones, looking at

23:20

the acoustical qualities of these

23:22

areas. could That could include things

23:24

like reducing background noise or improving

23:26

the acoustics. Particularly within areas that

23:28

people need people concentration like

23:30

transit zones or platforms where people

23:33

need to concentrate and listen

23:35

to. concentrate information for them? In

23:37

high sensory zones, In high you might

23:39

increase the amount of sound the

23:41

echo. sound or echo. lot of people,

23:43

particularly people who are non -verbal,

23:45

actually enjoy enjoy echo and sound sound

23:47

and they do and they do

23:49

enjoy particularly that auditory repeat

23:51

feedback. or else else there's other

23:53

groups that don't like that.

23:55

So that. the two kind of

23:57

scales and seeing that that actually

23:59

providing rezoning can assist assist

24:01

people in predicting their journey and planning

24:03

their journey. journey? And Iliana says

24:06

that these architectural interventions

24:08

should be site -specific. For

24:10

for example a park, be a bit be trickier

24:12

to kind of implement in a

24:14

public kind of outdoor area, area. But but

24:17

also, in know, in some environments that

24:19

approach might not work not work and maybe

24:21

about not the quiet quiet times are the

24:23

best approach, but sometimes that's something

24:25

that can assist people with with in

24:28

planning their travels, their and whilst it's not

24:30

the best approach. not the best moving forward.

24:32

It's currently something that some

24:34

places are facilitating to assist

24:36

people in actually in actually. functioning

24:39

within their they need to do something

24:41

when they need to do something to go out

24:43

go take a train or something

24:45

like that. that. So I think that think that

24:47

is some. since rezoning does definitely work,

24:49

does definitely work, you particularly where you

24:51

have a good level of controlling your

24:54

environment. but But then it's not

24:56

the ultimate solution, I think, for areas

24:58

that are more outdoor or where the the

25:00

control level is quite low. low. Many

25:04

buildings have features of acoustic sensory

25:06

zoning with different spaces for

25:08

varying levels of noise. levels

25:10

For example, For a university with

25:12

study rooms, with study and large

25:14

spaces to congregate, or

25:17

a library with a quiet study

25:19

area and a kids play area. a

25:21

kids play When When I'm I

25:23

need quiet, low low sensory zones

25:25

to regulate my nervous system. In

25:28

my experience, I find that quiet

25:30

spaces are either either too

25:33

loud, or that there are not enough of

25:35

them. Thinking back to the social

25:37

Thinking back to the social model

25:39

of disability, the sole if it's

25:41

not the sole responsibility of disabled

25:43

people to overcome the barriers

25:45

they face environmentally, who are who are

25:47

the other stakeholders in the accessible

25:49

design of public spaces? spaces? First

25:52

and foremost, architects. I mean, I mean,

25:54

they're the creators and they develop

25:56

space and they develop environments. It's It's the

25:58

architect's responsibility. who is designing

26:00

and catering catering environments for

26:02

people with a variety of needs

26:05

to reach out and actually consult.

26:07

understand and understand what these users' needs

26:09

are specifically. I also think I also think

26:11

it's our responsibility as access consultants to

26:13

keep up to date with the variety

26:15

of demanding needs and the variety the variety of

26:17

diverse disabilities. And it comes

26:19

down to the to team, but also

26:21

the client the asking the question,

26:23

you know, you are you making this

26:25

project accessible for people with a

26:27

disability? with How are you making

26:29

this project inclusive of all users? of

26:32

What changes do you think need

26:34

to be made to ensure

26:36

that sensory access is considered in

26:39

the design and building of

26:41

public spaces? spaces? I I think there's a

26:43

lot of work that still needs to

26:45

be done in this area. needs to think it's

26:47

growing, this I think while I think is I think

26:49

there that needs to be done, you know. needs

26:51

to be I think it's an

26:53

emerging area it's Australia area around the

26:56

world. and around the trying to

26:58

form partnerships and build

27:00

our knowledge around this area

27:02

so that we can

27:04

help educate designers and our

27:06

clients around for for neurodiversity.

27:09

that's our our role in

27:11

bringing up people's level of

27:13

understanding around this area

27:15

of design and inclusion. We

27:18

still have a long way to go,

27:20

but for cities like Melbourne are We

27:22

still have a long way to

27:24

go before cities like Melbourne are accessible

27:26

for people with decreased and disorders and

27:28

sensory sensitivities. the meantime, the am I what

27:30

am I doing to make Melbourne accessible

27:32

for me? for me? I

27:34

use accessibility aids like noise noise

27:36

headphones, headphones, earplugs and noise when

27:38

moving through the city, city, but

27:40

I still regularly experience sensory

27:42

overload and meltdowns. So I'm taking

27:45

a new I'm taking a new approach. of

27:47

this story, I have Throughout the production of

27:49

this story, I have learned that

27:51

there are technologies and therapies available that

27:53

can support people like me who

27:55

are struggling with tolerance disorders. This has inspired

27:57

has inspired me to book an with an an

27:59

audience. to better better manage my

28:01

sound sensitivity so that I can turn

28:04

I can turn down the volume of life. just a

28:06

bit a bit it's where it's comfortable. That

28:10

is Amelia Geice, who who reported

28:12

and produced this episode. episode. thanks

28:15

also to to producer Rose Kerr,

28:17

producer James James and

28:19

sound engineer engineer Roy Huberman, and

28:21

Danielle K. Hill additional production

28:23

support. This show

28:26

was made for made for the Day

28:28

of People Day of People with which

28:30

runs from which runs from

28:32

to December 10th,

28:34

2024. 2024. The ABC partnered

28:37

with the Department of

28:39

Social Services to increase

28:41

awareness, understanding, and acceptance

28:43

of the 5 .5 million

28:45

Australians with a disability.

28:47

acceptance That is it for All in the Mind this

28:49

week. I'm Sana with a thank

28:51

you for listening. That is

28:53

it for All in the Mind

28:55

this week. I'm Sonic Adar.

28:58

Thank of the

29:00

listening. Jaws The

29:02

terrifying motion And Jones

29:05

here from What the Duck and is a rogue

29:07

shark actually going to come and

29:09

get us? Does any any of this

29:11

stuff happen in the in the

29:13

We're going behind the scenes on

29:15

Hollywood's biggest movies to work

29:17

out what's real to what's just and

29:19

what's just makeup. Twist is a new

29:21

series from What the Duck

29:23

with me, the Duck with me and it

29:25

now it now the ABC Listen app. You've

29:28

been listening to an

29:30

ABC ABC Discover more great

29:32

ABC podcasts, live radio and

29:34

exclusives on the ABC Listen

29:36

app.