Autism Friendly project launched at Almaty airport

Bulat Utemuratov Foundation, in cooperation with the Almaty Tourism Department, will conduct training sessions for 300 employees of Almaty International Airport on the skills of interacting with passengers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as part of the Autism Friendly initiative. The main objective of this international initiative is to make urban spaces and institutions safe and accessible for people with autism. The Foundation, Almaty International Airport and the Almaty Tourism Department have signed a corresponding trilateral memorandum today.

Employees of the airport ground service will receive three days of training, including lectures and practical lessons aimed at developing skills for effective interaction with passengers in need of a special approach.

The training course will allow airport personnel to identify passengers with special needs and create conditions for their comfortable stay at the airport, starting from entering the building, going through the registration and inspection processes until boarding the aircraft.

“The main goal of the Autism Friendly project is to create a favorable and comfortable environment for people with autism by raising awareness and practical training of airport personnel to interact and serve customers with ASD. It is more difficult for a person with autism to interact with others than for neurotypical people. The world around them may be too loud, too bright, too saturated with information. A person with ASD may get confused in an unfamiliar place. Therefore, it is important that employees of organizations working with the population understand how to interact correctly with people with ASD,” said Marat Aitmagambetov, director of the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation.

According to Aitmagambetov, the Foundation is ready to scale the Autism Friendly initiative and provide advice and expert support in promoting this initiative and creating the necessary infrastructure in urban and public spaces (railway stations, Public Service Centers, medical institutions, shopping malls, concert halls, etc.). By the end of this year, the Foundation, in cooperation with the Almaty Tourism Department, plans to conduct training for employees of museums in the southern capital of the country.

Recall that the project “Autism. The World is One for All” has been the flagship program of the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation since 2014. In 10 years, 13 Assyl Miras autism centers where children and families raising children with ASD can receive free consultations and training, have been opened in 11 cities of Kazakhstan.