Supporting sensory needs in the city

She says the Core Association continues to focus on different sensory activities.

Meantime, at the Medicine Hat Public Library, Chief Librarian Ken Feser talks about the sensory movies they offer for free on Sundays at the Library.

“We’re dipping our toe in at this point with sensory screenings in our theatre for a while and that’s showing movies with a little bit lower volume for people who prefer not to have those big explosions and loud noises,” according to Feser.

He says the library is hoping to grow and offer more sensory programs and events.

“People who again prefer different environments, so there’s a trend for sensory rooms with different lighting, soft music or sounds. We are interested in doing something like that. We don’t have funding currently, but we’re investigating that and hope to have news sometime on that in the future.”

There’s also an opportunity to sensory shop at the Safeway location in Medicine Hat Mall.

Store Manager Colin Laird says they started a sensory shopping night in July of this year.

That initiative first began in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.

He says the sensory shopping night is now rolled out across their banners – 450 stores and counting.

Laird says, “We do it every Monday from 7-9 PM, during that time we turn the lights down 50 percent and we try to eliminate as much noise as possible, we turn the scanners off, PA off, music off, we try to make sure we don’t have any noises as far as production – the compactor in the back, bailer, we don’t collect carts during that time frame.”

Maggrah adds, “Because everybody should be able to enjoy the community, everybody should be included and involved, and be able to contribute, and if we can adjust and adapt the environment to let them be able to experience the things we all get to experience – that’s fantastic, that’s just amazing.”

According to Maggrah, to see people and organizations supporting sensory initiatives in the community is great news.

by Chantal Wagner

Supporting sensory needs in the city

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