Sensory Aware Certification
At Square Holes, we believe that accessibility and inclusion are essential for creating meaningful experiences for everyone. Our Sensory Aware Certification helps organizations take intentional steps to ensure their spaces, programs, and events are welcoming and accessible to neurodivergent individuals and those with sensory processing differences. This certification signals to your community that you are committed to creating an environment where all visitors feel prepared, accommodated, and genuinely welcomed.
To become Sensory Aware Certified, organizations must demonstrate accessibility efforts in three areas:
Preparing - Sensory Aware organizations provide robust accessibility information and resources such as social narratives or sensory maps that are available to guests prior to their visit. This can reduce anxiety by allowing visitors to understand what their experience will be like prior to their arrival.
Accommodating - Sensory Aware organizations provide meaningful sensory tools and accommodations to visitors. These accommodations may include quiet/calming spaces available for taking a break, sensory packs with headphones and sunglasses to reduce the sensory input of the experience, and/or designated sensory-friendly times or performances where sensory stimuli in the environment is modified. These accommodations can help prevent overstimulation and overwhelm in guests of all ages.
Welcoming - Sensory Aware organizations aim to create programs and events that are friendly, inviting, and accessible to all. They invest in staff and volunteer training that equips their teams to understand the varying needs of their visitors and how to design activities, operations, and events that make all guests feel valued and respected.
