Go birds! The Philadelphia Eagles football team has created a safe space for fans with autism. The Lincoln Financial Field has added a sensory room that includes fans who might feel overwhelmed in the stands. The room is sponsored by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), who also helped the room meet inclusivity standards.
Every guest will receive a sensory gift bag filled with helpful products such as noise-canceling headphones, fidget games, verbal cue cards, and weighted lap pads. Fans are also permitted to leave and reenter, which is often prohibited in the normal stands.
I’m not a fan, per se, of the @Eagles 😉 but I am a big fan of this… Making the sports world more inclusive for kids and adults with sensory processing sensitivities.
— Tiki Barber (@TikiBarber) August 8, 2019
Awesome job!!@kulturec #autism #ptsd @NFL @AtlantaFalcons @MiamiDolphins @Patriotshttps://t.co/gATU7WqYQfRyan Hammond, executive director of the Eagles Autism Challenge told CNN that “They can’t see the field, but that’s kind of on purpose, so they can take a break, center themselves and rejoin the experience.” The room will assist the one in 59 children who are diagnosed with autism a year.
Victor Ykoruk, a Philly fan, and father, expressed his gratitude in an interview. “To me, it means the world because you grow up loving this team,” he said, “I couldn’t be more proud of them, it gives me a big teaching tool to teach my boys about sportsmanship and camaraderie and doing the right thing and giving back to a community.”