AUTASTY RESTAURANT SPRINGS TO LIFE!

Well it’s been nearly two years in the planning but finally we are getting closer to opening the UK’s first sensory adapted restaurant!

We have found the perfect venue and you would think ‘yay go you’ but no, luck certainly is not on our side, funding is the worst thing ever to apply for and it’s actually degrading and insensitive, it makes you feel small, ignorant people who have no concept of ASD say ‘NO’ and it makes me want to scream. What do we have to do to get our point across, what do we have to do to make them understand that people with ASD have as much right to dine out as a family as they do! It’s infuriating.

I guess unless you are a parent or carer of someone on the spectrum or your on the spectrum yourself, then you just wont get it. You just won’t see why we want to do this, how we can do this and most importantly you will never understand the difference this will make to people.

This isn’t some pie in the sky idea developed by rich entrepreneurs, no this is inspired by my own son who actually gave me the idea, it’s inspired by my 3yr old who has just been diagnosed too but most importantly it is inspired by YOU. Every single one of you out there on the spectrum. We understand, we understand the smells and noises In a restaurant can ruin your meal, we understand you might not want your peas to touch your carrots but most of all we understand what it’s like for people on the spectrum to be judged or stared at because the sensory overload has caused you to ‘meltdown’ for the want of a better word.

We don’t care if you flap, spin and eat with your fingers, we don’t care if you have Jelly and Chips for your dinner. Because we don’t judge, we don’t stare or mutter ‘that woman’s kid needs a good slap’ under our breaths, we embrace you, we adore you and we honour you. We can’t wait to welcome you and we can’t wait to have some of you working alongside us.

We will never stop fighting to open the restaurant, we will keep applying for funding and grants in the hope one day someone we meet understands us, we will continue to fundraise ourselves and WE WILL get the restaurant open, complete with sensory room, tactile wall panels and a diverse menu with sectional plates. We will keep listening to you and your fantastic ideas because this is YOUR restaurant, we are just your voice.

We need to raise £1200 and currently have a fundraiser in progress, if you believe in our restaurant, if you understand why, please please share it and help us get Autasty Viral, it is only the first restaurant of this is successful we won’t be stopping there that’s for sure.

One day we hope to have an Autasty near you and welcome you either as a customer or colleague. Autasty and it’s staff and customers are the future.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/autastyrestaurant