here are the niches according to the brands

Aggressive light, loud music, unwanted announcements… The atmosphere of supermarkets can quickly become distressing for some sensitive people, in particular for those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). If since always, the latter simply avoid these places of agitation, for fear of feeling oppressed, more and more brands are setting up quiet hours to facilitate their visit.

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The niches to remember

• Since June 2019, Système U (Super U, U Express, etc.) has been offering 2 quiet hours per week, on Tuesdays, where 1,600 points of sale reduce the intensity of artificial light and the sound volume between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. .
• Since the beginning of April 2021, all Carrefour of more than 10,000 square meters have also become quiet, every Monday from 2 to 3 p.m.

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Real benefits

Many ignore it, but the simple things in life like going shopping can be very painful, if not impossible for people with autism. Visual and auditory hyperstimulation causes anxiety and worry, which can lead to seizures.

Autism: the creation of a silent hour in supermarkets adopted by the Assembly

Video by Clara Poudevigne

By lowering the light to 30 or 50%, the observed effects are more than encouraging, as reported by Mona, mother of an 11-year-old autistic child, interviewed and quoted by Le Parisien. Both have been shopping at the Carrefour de Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (Essonne) and the results are impressive. “He doesn’t come with me often. And when that is the case, I arrange for us to stay only a few minutes, otherwise he does not hold any more and begs me to leave, details this mom. There I stayed for an hour without any problem. We were in an almost religious silence, the light was not aggressive. ” A radical change made possible thanks to the voluntarism of the departments of supermarkets. We hope that the protocol will be generalized to all groups and offer more and more time slots.