Application process and FAQ
The Autism Friendly Award application process:
Enquire about signing up using our online form below
Work through the workbook provided
Roll out training (if required)
Submit your online self-assessment form
Application approved
Receive the award and your certificate
Frequently asked questions
-
The Autism Friendly Award is aimed at businesses, attractions and venues that an autistic person my visit independently or with support. It is about the overall accessibility of the autistic visitor experience.If you provide support to autistic people in any depth more than as customer service you may like to explore our other Accreditation awards that will be more suited to your business.
-
There are thought to be in the region of 1.2 million autistic and non-diagnosed autistic people in the UK. The impact of these on the visitor economy within the UK would be huge, this also does not conclude non-UK based customer visiting whilst in the country on holiday.Autistic people and their families can experience heightened levels of anxiety when visiting new locations, for some this results in them not attending at all. With low cost reasonable adjustments it can open up your business to all, increasing footfall and the potential return of customers.
-
Our fees are based on the number of customer facing staff you have. These are staff members who may interact on different levels with customers accessing your business or attraction.
-
Undertaking the award takes businesses different lengths of time depending on what current autism friendly practices are in place. The overall journey includes:- Ensuring staff have the right level of autism knowledge
- Using the autism friendly workbook to reflect on what current autism friendly practice are in place and where you may need to develop further
- Implementing any actions you have noted from using the work book
- Submitting and uploading your autism friendly award application to the NAS
- Secret shopper visit for those that have a multi-site business
-
All customer facing staff need to have at least autism awareness training so that they know how to support autistic people successfully. Training will also help your team reflect on what other autism practices they may wish to implement to make your business more autism friendly.Training can be sourced from many providers, the NAS also provides autism awareness training, please see our training pages for more details.
Autism Friendly Award customers also get 10% discount on NAS training.
At the point of submission we would need to see that at least 60% of your staff team have been trained.
-
When you achieve the award, you are given an achieved date within your autism friendly logo. There is no expiry but we would recommend that you are reassessed every 3 years to ensure that the customer experience is still positive and possibly even improved.
-
If you are successful in achieving the award we will:- Provide you with an Autism Friendly logo to use on your website, letter head and so on
- A listing on our Autism services directory
- A communications pack to help you publicise your award
- Opportunity to feature on our Autism Friendly webpages as a testimonial
