As part of Autism Acceptance Month and HUST’s link up with North East Autism Society and HUFC Disabled Supporters Association (HUDSA), we are delighted to launch a ‘Visual Story’ to help autistic supporters attend Pools matches.

Over the past few weeks we’ve tried to understand and highlight some of the challenges autistic supporters might face in attending football matches. We’ve talked to our friends at NEAS and listened to the experiences of some of our members.

“Barriers autistic supporters may face when attending games include crowds, noise, waiting in queues and the unpredictability of the day,” said Rebecca Walsh of NEAS. “Using visuals such as social stories can help autistic supporters overcome these barriers.”

“These stories help autistic supporters understand the purpose behind situations, break down situations, and provide a step-by-step outline of what happens or might happen in a situation,” added Rebecca. “This can help to increase predictability, which can reduce anxiety, and also with differences in executive functioning such as the ability to plan, sequence, organise and problem solve.”

Hopefully our story can offer this sort of support to people thinking about coming to Pools.

You can download the story here. We are happy for this to be shared widely, including on other websites, so please feel free to go ahead as appropriate.