Autism-friendly gardening showcased at RHS flower shows

How can you make green-spaces like parks and gardens autism-friendly?

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Flower Shows at Chelsea and Tatton Park will showcase ways to optimise green spaces for people with autism; a neurological disorder with no known cause that touches the lives of more than 2.8 million people in the UK every day.

Award-winning designer Frederic Whyte (from Suffolk) aims to showcase autism-friendly gardening at RHS Chelsea next month, with ‘The Pro Corda Garden: A Suffolk Retreat’, which will be re-located to Leiston Abbey in Suffolk as a soothing space that will benefit children with autism for years to come.

Frederic says: “Gardens can be wonderful places for people with autism, either providing a calm and safe retreat or an open, free area for running around and relieving stress – ideally both.

"Making simple adjustments to your outdoor space and creating a low arousal environment that supports their needs, can greatly benefit their well being.”

Inspired by her 11-year-old autistic son, landscape designer Shea O’Neill (from Cheshire) has similar aims for RHS Tatton in July. Shea has designed ‘ACE kids: Spectrum of Genius’ (pictured above) which will demonstrate simple ways to adapt gardens and parks to suit people with autism.

Shea has been on a ‘journey of discovery’ since her son Eoghan was diagnosed with high-functioning autism and has found gardening to be one of the simplest but effective ways of helping him.

Shea said: “For my boy, gardening has been life-changing and I can’t recommend it enough to anybody who lives or works with people with autism. Eoghan wasn’t a happy little boy, but being in the garden brings him peace, he is happiest in the garden and has been transformed as a result of it.”

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