A new one on me - one star review if you fail the 'test'

[TheBeachHouse]

In my area, I've heard of at least four instances where a woman calls to ask if you have a sensory friendly room for autistic children. If you say no, or that you're not aware of that type of room, she gives you a one star review on googly. According to my source, she's done it over 20 times in the area including for high end hotels in the big city.
People will find a reason to be angry.
I don't blame a mother for wanting to bring her special needs child on vacation, but I can't be everything to everybody. I only have 6 rooms.

 

[Morticia]

Wow. I'm assuming she doesn't leave anything comment so you can't respond, right?
Yeesh.
I'll keep this in mind.

 

[GoodScout]

What the heck is a sensory-friendly room?
All my rooms are friendly to people with any sense.

 

[OnTheShore]

I am definitely not an expert, but I do have two nephews (now young adults) who have Aspergers (related to autism), my sister (their mother) has decided that she herself is borderline autistic, and I have a colleague who's teenage son has Autism.
So, not having heard of a sensory-friendly room before, I did a quick search. I know autistic people can get overwhelmed by sensory inputs (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, etc..), which can lead to a "meltdown." They are also used to a routine (and their normal environment) and anything that deviates from that routine (or their normal environment) can potentially really throw them for a loop.
Thus it seems like a sensory-friendly room would call for a spare uncluttered decoration scheme with muted colors, black-out shades, sound insulation, a quiet protected corner where the kid can hide out (escape from sensory overload) and decompress, and bedding matched to the kid's particular preferences regarding fabrics, among other possibilities.
Some of these are rather basic and pretty universal (black out shades and sound insulation), but others are very specific to the particular kid (the nature of the hide-out, the fabrics in the bedding) that it would be pretty impossible for a place of public accommodation to meet the specific needs of all possible comers.

 

[Lee2014]

The review probably has it as well as the child since it is a hereditary trait. Its a "cousin" to Aspergers which is linked to Autism.
My sister has it, too. She deals with it as best as she can but she doesn't think everyone has to be like her. The example is we all hear a train off in the distance while we are sitting in the living room. She hear the train come roaring through the living room. Its starts out small like ripping tags off clothes and wearing socks inside out, not wanting to eat food with different textures together like nuts in cookies, complaining about bright lights, etc and builds up until you basically become a hermit. Which is one question asked when testing, Do you have any hermits in your family?

 

[gillumhouse]

I know where this came from. This was on mt HARO feed thisafternoon. I guess they are looking for another avenue for rip-off.
) Sensory Rooms in Airports for Children with Autism (Wolf + Friends)
Please do NOT take it that I am being crass or uncaring, these kind of articles seem to start the next firestorm of lawsuits. We cannot be all things to all people nor all disabilities. Yet, we will be accused of being uncaring and whatever the latest term if there is one person who cannot use our website, use our rooms, eat our food. Where does it stop? With there being no place anyone can stay, no place to eat because we have either been sued our of existence or just throw up our hands and say "That is it, I quit." Only the Air platforms will remain because they are hidden from everyone, including tax, health, and code departments.

 

[user 26]

good grief! my stepson has aspergers and we dealt with the sensory overload issues ourselves. we would bring blankets for the windows and our own bulbs for any lights we couldn't turn down low. pink noise in the background helped enormously. by trial and error, we had developed a recording he could listen to that kept him calm. you'd see kids with their headphones listening to music, he was listening to 'noise'. happily, he has 'outgrown' or 'adapted to' the issue, for lack of a better explanation. he knows his triggers and there are places and situations he avoids, but never once would we have considered playing such a game of knocking a place in the way you describe.