By Sean Sullivan

Last month, the Natick Mall cut the ribbon on its new autism center, opening doors and access to our neighbors facing that challenge. The “Autism Welcoming” facility promises more freedom for families to engage in the social spaces most of us take for granted.   

In his new book, “On Freedom,” Timothy Snyder counsels that societies and their peoples should strive toward positive freedoms, and eschew negative ones.

Take taxes as an example. Not having to pay them might sound appealing for a few seconds, until we consider the dire downstream implications of such a policy. It’s a negative, a freedom from hav branch of Wegman’s. 

The center’s mission, said Allison Daigle, is threefold. She is Executive Director of the Autism Alliance, a group that’s worked to make the new Autism Welcoming location a reality.

First, the center seeks to be serene space for people living with autism. Retail spaces like the Natick Mall are an arcade of the audio and visual bells and whistles that go into marketing goods and services.

But all the sensory output that’s aimed at selling can have the opposite effect on people with autism. It can be an overload of sights and sounds, one that can inhibit the positive freedom of movement.

The Autism Welcoming center was designed to dampen those ill-effects. There, parents can bring autistic children to decompress from the inputs of a busy mall. A wooden play structure is the centerpiece of the facility, which is otherwise sparsely furnished (deliberately so).

Several stations have been set up, tables where children can occupy themselves with visual and tactile activities. The Natick Mall renovated the new space for Autism Welcoming.

“We wanted to keep it keyed into kids who have autism who come into the space,” said Daigle. “We’re providing a space that’s going to be comforting and supportive.”

To that end, kits can be loaned out to visitors to help them cope with the strain on the senses that’s often on offer within walls of the mall. Kits are customized based on the needs of each child. They may include a noise-cancelling pair of headphones, fidget toys, and other devices.

Another mission of the center is to connect visiting families with resources that may benefit them. Autism Welcoming is a production of Advocates, a local nonprofit human services provider. The latter can advise our neighbors in need about programs geared toward their special challenges.

“We want to be forward-facing,” said Daigle. “We want to talk to them.”   

Also under the center’s remit is training local businesses to be more welcoming to families living with autism. Just across one mall intersection and down a level, California Pizza Kitchen has recently been certified by Autism Welcoming. Cosmetics company Lush has been sanctioned also by the organization. 

The staff of Dave & Busters too have been coached and certified. It’s hard to imagine a more rowdy arena for families living with autism—a cavernous arcade hall filled with video games and excited children.

But Dave & Busters now offers “sensory-friendly times,” special hours of access for people sensitive to such a din. Presumably then, blinking lights and sound effects are dialed way down, as are the crowds.

Other businesses working with the new center have also designated hours to accommodate our autistic neighbors visiting the mall. These tend to be windows outside of peak service times when customer traffic is low.  

And equipped also with those personalized kits provided by Autism Welcoming, people coping with the condition have more freedom of mobility.  They can cross a border into another country of experience, one they’d been practically barred from entering their whole lives.

“We know there’s a need for it,” said Daigle. “If you provide it. We’re excite