A Sunflower and a Water Bottle

For any parent of an autistic child, traveling is a huge nightmare. It was the same for us.

I had travelled to Florida with my family in May. The main purpose was SAP’s Sapphire event — a yearly event organized by SAP focusing on new product releases, keynotes and presentations from SAP as well as partners. The conference floor has multiple presentations going on, vendor booths, and so on. It is a key SAP event and a highlight every year for SAP.

Since I was traveling to Florida, I wanted to bring my family over as well. My son is autistic and a huge Mickey fan, and I thought this might be a good time to take him to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Travel concerns

My son does not like crowds. He gets overstimulated when he is in one, and he cannot wait for a long time either — his anxiety goes up.

LAX is pretty familiar to us. Their staff have very good awareness about autism and we have always had pretty good experiences. This time I forgot to do the TSA Cares form and only did it on the last day, and I did not get a response back. We were feeling a bit nervous approaching the check-in at American Airlines.

But to our relief it was a smooth experience, and the bonus was that we did not have to take our electronics out. We had two iPads and two laptops, and we had medicine for him as well — taking all that out in a crowd while my wife calms my son is never pleasant. They had the new scanners at LAX and it was a breeze. The TSA guys guided him through the scanners as well. We were done in 10 minutes.

I had some concerns about Florida, because this was the first time I was flying out of there with my family, and the end of Sapphire means crazy crowds. So again we were nervous on the way back.

I had noticed a sunflower sign in one of the security lanes last time, and it was my hope that we could use it. That came true. We went through that lane.

It was crowded, and they had the older scanners, so I had to take out all the items while my wife stood with my son. Then the TSA guys took a look at my son and asked him and his mom to go through the metal detectors, while I went through the regular scanner — which would have been really problematic for him.

A big shout out to TSA and the airport team who make air travel a bit less nerve-wracking for families like this.

What the Sunflower actually is

Once we came back home, I did some research on how the program worked.

The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower is a green lanyard with yellow sunflowers, started at London Gatwick in 2016. It is a discreet self-identification signal — “I may need more time, more patience, or more help” — not a credential. No diagnosis, no paperwork, no registration. You ask, they hand you one. It is run by Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme Ltd in the UK, and adopted airport by airport, not by TSA centrally.

Based on the research I did, Orlando’s MCO airport recognizes the Sunflower lanyard and tries to help to the best of their abilities.

What is interesting is that MCO’s own accessibility page is very clear that wearing the lanyard does not guarantee fast tracking through security or any preferential treatment. . And yet the lane was there, with the sunflower on it, and the officer working it knew exactly what to do when he looked at my son. Nobody promised us anything. It just happened, because somebody had thought about it in advance.

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority has also officially become a Certified Autism Center™ (CAC), a designation awarded by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES). As part of the certification, they train their airport staff on how to effectively communicate with and provide assistance to guests with autistic and sensory-sensitive needs.

I wish more airports would start doing the same. I understand this is not their primary concern. Like most families with kids on the spectrum, our request is for people to be aware of what being on the spectrum means, and to treat them with kindness and understanding.

Corporate initiatives

A big part of Sapphire for participants is the SAP merch you can get, and I am no exception to the rule.

SAP events also focus a lot on wellness. They normally run step challenges and provide their own bottles to stay hydrated and avoid plastic. So when they announced they had SAP-themed steel bottles at registration, I went and picked one up. I kept it aside without thinking too much about it.

After the initial events I went to fill up water, and that is when I saw this board.

The bottles were made by Spectrum Designs.

Spectrum Designs is a nonprofit out of Port Washington, New York, founded in 2011. They do custom apparel and promotional products, and the majority of the people who work there are autistic or otherwise neurodivergent. They are not a small operation running on goodwill either — their client list includes Google, Uber, ABC, J.Crew and 1-800-Flowers. They also run a bakery and a commercial laundry under the same roof.

This was a wonderful initiative by SAP, and anyone who came to the conference would have seen it. To me, this is how you help businesses that include people on the spectrum.

SAP has its own initiative for autism inclusion and employs people on the spectrum, and you can read about it here. But you also need to realize that not everyone on the spectrum can do that kind of work. Hiring reaches one end of the spectrum. A purchase order reaches the other. Their choice to showcase an organization that helps people on that other end is something to be lauded. They could have very well gone to a well known brand to get the same product. But some one on SAP side chose to do this and hats off to them.

For families on the spectrum there are two major fears. One: who will take care of our kids when we are no longer there. Two: what will his life look like when he is an adult.
As the father of an autistic teen who is almost done with school, businesses like this give us hope that maybe there is something out there for him.

If you want to read more on Spectrum Designs, this is their page — please support them.