When Jake Tilk and his autistic 28-year-old brother, Max, were offered a chance to visit Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, they were nervous. It was 2023, and the brothers were going to vacation in the city which had just received its Autism Ready designation—and would be filmed while doing so. Their experience would be included in the Peacock show Traveling the Spectrum. The two Detroit natives had never traveled for a week without other family members, and Jake wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle everything his brother needed in an unfamiliar setting.
But Jake was relieved to find that all the places and activities they visited were very friendly and accommodating with Max.
“They were trained and open to all sorts of disabilities,” says Tilk, even providing Max with fidget toys, a tour of sensory rooms at various attractions, and extra help to experience jet skis and a helicopter ride. “I had never seen anything like that before Myrtle Beach.”
For neurodiverse travelers like Max, crowds, loud noises, and unfamiliar situations can be challenging. A survey conducted by AutismTravel.com found that 78 percent of autism families are hesitant to travel or visit new locations, yet 94 percent of respondents would take more vacations if they had access to places where staff are autism-trained and certified.
Thanks to the autism training required across the bulk of hotels, restaurants, and activities in Myrtle Beach, Tilk felt there was no awkwardness or explanations needed with Max. And that was a huge confidence boost for them both.
“It was really cool to see his independence blossom,” Tilk says.
Myrtle Beach’s Autism Ready designation by the Autism Travel Club (formerly Champions of Autism Network) is one of three autism-related certifications that cities can earn, in addition to the Autism Certified City Destination by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), and the Sensory-Inclusive City designation by KultureCity.
All have different requirements, with the main goal of providing employee training across hotels, restaurants, and attractions to increase understanding of the spectrum of autism, what to do when someone has a sensory meltdown, and safety awareness for wandering or elopement. The certifications may also require the city’s venues to provide quiet rooms, lights-up performances, or the availability of noise-canceling headphones to help neurodiverse individuals better regulate.
Philadelphia partnered with nonprofit KultureCity to become the first certified Sensory Inclusive City in the U.S., in December 2023.
Photo by J. Fusco for VISIT PHILADELPHIA®
“Each person has different sensitivities, and it’s about knowing how to communicate and offer comfort [to those who need it],” says Meredith Tekin, IBCCES president. The training isn’t very long—a half hour to a full day for staff in more intensive camps, kids’ clubs, and summer programs. However, 80 percent of employees in a certain number of hotels, attractions, and outdoor recreation must complete the training for the city to receive the designation.
Palm Springs just earned its designation this month from IBCCES, joining Mesa, Arizona; Traverse City, Michigan; High Point, North Carolina; and Dubai, UAE.
“One in six people have a sensory need or sensitivity,” Tekin notes, and that includes not just autism, but also individuals with PTSD, anxiety, Down’s Syndrome, or Parkinson’s Syndrome. “Why would we not want to serve one in six people better?”
Philadelphia earned its Sensory Inclusive City designation in late 2023, and now 92 percent of city employees have received sensory training. KultureCity is currently working with Salt Lake City and Detroit on the training required for their designations.
What does the designation mean for neurodiverse travelers?
From a visitor’s perspective, the Autism Ready designation means that travelers with invisible disabilities can go check out an Eagles football game at Lincoln Financial Field and know that they can find a quiet room or request one of KultureCity’s sensory bags with noise-canceling headphones, fidgets, and a feeling communications card. Ditto for the Adventure Aquarium, Philadelphia Zoo, and other top attractions.
There are more than 6,000 of these bags in circulation in the U.S., and another 2,000 outside the country, that can be requested via KultureCity’s app for sensory-friendly resources, says KultureCity cofounder Julian Maha.
“Going to public spaces can be challenging and even physically painful,” Maha says. “The training helps create better understanding and empathy around autism, why you need to care, and how you can better relate [to neurodiverse individuals].”
The training and promotion of sensory-friendly resources is just a smart bet for cities and facilities, Maha adds. The program helps get the 1 in 31 autistic American children out to new places and provides tools for an aging population with sensory-sensitive conditions, such as stroke recovery or dementia.
Will an Autism City designation boost tourism?
While autism-friendly city designations don’t guarantee a tourism boost from neurodiverse travelers, they are a start, experts say. The hope is that the certification will give neurodiverse visitors more confidence in traveling to a destination, just as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—enacted almost 35 years ago—boosted international tourism from those with physical disabilities to the U.S.
“Accessibility is more than a necessity, it’s an attraction,” says Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of TravelAbility, which promotes accessibility in travel.
Neurodiverse travelers are starting to respond to these designations. KultureCity has more than 1.7 million downloads of its free app.
Smaller cities are recognizing the opportunity. Lansing, Michigan has begun advertising its sensory-friendly attractions, performances, and general accessibility in parenting magazines, after learning that 21 percent of its visitors had someone in their group with a disability.
Certainly, Myrtle Beach has seen its profile raised in the autism community after the release of the Peacock series that showcased its autism-friendly options last December. (A second season is on the way.) But the change didn’t happen overnight, and it was important to get the experience right across the destination so it wouldn’t be dismissed as hype by autism families, says Stuart Butler, chief marketing officer for Visit Myrtle Beach.
“We didn’t want to just virtue signal and present an experience that didn’t exist,” he explains.“We waited five years to make sure we had an experience worth talking about before we promoted it.”
