Avoiding painful furniture
Recommendation 119
Furniture, cabinets, play sets or gym gear without (sharp) projections or corners and not made of metal. Plenty of space. No rough touchable wall surfaces
Chapter (theme’s)
Interior design (touch and pain / in school)
Because of
deviating pain sensitivity, proprioceptive and vestibular problems, Central coherence
In order to
avoid painful collisions with furniture, play sets, gym gear etc. and to promote safety.
Elaboration
The background for this recommendation is given in two themes for a reason. One is general and implies firstly that deviating pain experiences demand adaptations of the environment. (See this recommendation in the home-context.) Secondly attention is asked for the fact that other autistic peculiarities (motor awkwardness, spatial orientation) increase the risk of painful incidents, which makes the matter more urgent.
The other theme focuses on the school situation and also treats some of the social aspects of the pain problem in which interior design only plays a limited role; for this, one is urged to take notice of the insights in the Scottish Autism Toolbox. All this increases the urgency to design schools in ways which minimize the occurrence of painful incidents.
Tables, chairs, cabinets, coat racks, play sets, gym gear etc better not have (sharp) projections. Roughly plastered wall surfaces against which one could fall should also be avoided.
Here extra arguments are added for generous space standards: walking space in classrooms, corridors and staircases need to be spacious enough so that autistic students don’t easily hurt themselves.
In designing the playground too, one needs to be even more than usual aware of injury risks. Apart from the supervision which is mentioned in recommendation 37 and the extra safety precautions mentioned in recommendation 11 one should certainly consider to exempt students with pain-issues from risky gymnastic activities.