Dr. Peggy Brown in Saint John gives a sensory friendly dental exam. (Quincy Hall/Sensory Friendly Solutions)
A new resource is available for those seeking sensory-friendly experiences.
Christel Seeberger, the founder of Sensory Friendly Solutions, has launched an online directory which highlights businesses, organizations and events that offer sensory-friendly services.
“What I’m trying to do is really help people who have sensory sensitivities for a number of different reasons, and really try to give them a way to find what is sensory-friendly,” she said in an interview.
Seeberger says she was drawn to the initiative after working as an occupational therapist for 25 years and wants to help people “in a different way.”
She says sensory overload affects a lot of people, including herself–Seeberger experiences adult-onset hearing loss and wears hearing aids.
“As an occupational therapist, I ended up working more and more and more with people who have autism, and concussions, and PTSD, and anxiety,” she says, listing just some of the people who would experience sensory issues.
Both from her own experience and through working with the community, Seeberger says there are a number of things that can overload someone’s senses while out in public.
“Noise and crowds. So when places are noisy and crowded, those are the top two barriers that contribute to sensory overload. They can’t enjoy themselves because it’s too busy and too noisy. Number three on the list is lighting,” she said.
Things like sensory-friendly shopping hours have been started in Sobeys stores across Atlantic Canada, which feature dimmer lights, and no music or announcements on the speakers.
Peggy Bown Dentistry in Saint John is another business featured on the list. During dental exams, patients have a weighted blanket and can wear noise-cancelling headphones and sunglasses.
Seeberger is starting the directory in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada, but hoping to expand it worldwide.
“If you’re a business or an organization and you have a sensory-friendly location, you have sensory-friendly shopping hours, you offer a sensory-friendly event, submit it to be listed in the directory,” she says, something which is free to do.
She explains anyone who finds something sensory-friendly can submit it to the website, from all around the world.
