Connecticut-based online training company Autism Double-Checked (ADC) has announced an initiative to help travel and hospitality staff located in the United States by offering free training courses on a first-come-first-served basis through August 31st 2020.
The training is designed to educate hospitality industry workers to better assist travelers with Autism needs.
CEO, Alan Day, said, “Huge numbers of travel industry employees are out of work and are facing a very competitive job market. Our easy-to-take autism awareness courses will allow participants to acquire a new skillset from home that can be put to good use when they return to their jobs or look for employment. As many of the users may currently be struggling to make ends meet, these courses are being offered free of charge. On completing the course satisfactorily, enrollees will be able to print a certificate of learning valid for three years.”
Participants will select the most relevant course to their job function: There are six options for hotel staff, eight choices for airport and airline workers, five choices for those at visitor attractions/theme parks and another course for restaurant staff.
Sandy Burns, Director of inflight service for Flair Airlines of Canada said “Last year, Flair’s 150 cabin crew were all very excited to take the ADC course and I constantly get very positive feedback on how it has helped them assist special needs passengers. If I were to receive a resume where the applicant had personally taken the initiative to become certified as autism aware, it would certainly say a lot about that person and we’d definitely want to meet them.”
All courses are online, can be accessed from any web-enabled device and are available in Spanish or English. Course lengths will vary from 30 to 60 minutes, all are self-paced and suited to any educational background.
When the loosening of restrictions allows, families with autistic children and autistic adults, will be just as eager to travel as everyone else. When they do, they will want to know that the people assisting them understand the issues that arise when traveling with autism.
According to Day, the size of the Autism market is about 10 million people in the United States alone. These people are eager to travel but face many challenges. Having Autism-trained staff can be an asset to encourage more travel in a time when all hospitality businesses are trying to recover.
John Mason of Bedford, Mass, and father of a young autistic adult said, “Thank you. The work you are doing is so important. Travel with our son can be difficult, but it is not impossible. Some of our requests may sound strange to those who do not understand autism but are perfectly normal to people who know even a little about it. The more people in hotels, airlines, restaurants and attractions with that important knowledge the easier it will be for us to travel.”
About Autism Double-Checked (ADC): Stamford CT-based ADC was founded in 2014 by two travel industry veterans: CEO Alan Day has over 20 years’ experience it retail travel and – as the father of an autistic son – he recognized the lack of special needs training in the travel industry. Co-founder David Tait OBE is a career airline executive and author, who started Virgin Atlantic Airways with Richard Branson in 1984 and ran the airline in the USA for 20 years. Together Day and Tait formed ADC with the mission of preparing travel entities to receive autistic guests while simultaneously readying the autistic guest for their destination – the latter is done by way of a customized Social Story and Visitor’s Guide.
For more information about autism, travel with autism or training, contact Alan Day, Autism Double-Checked at (203) 750-0000.
For enrollment, visit AutismChecked website
