World Autism Awareness Day: Carrefour steps up its support for people on the autism spectrum

Two years ago, Carrefour introduced "quiet shopping times". Now, it is stepping up its support for people on the autism spectrum with a number of other initiatives.

At Autism France's request, it is introducing store maps on the bars of its shopping trollies. This way, physically or mentally disabled people can find their way around more easily. Such people need spatial markers to prevent shopping from being an excessively draining experience for them.

So far, 93 stores have introduced this measure, and Carrefour wants all of its hypermarkets to have store maps on their shopping trolley bars by the end of summer 2023. People wirh autism are hypersensitive to visual and auditory stimuli and so need a calm environment in which to shop. Carrefour hypermarkets have therefore introduced calm areas (fitting rooms converted into calm spaces) with noise-cancelling headphones in which people can isolate themselves away from all the commotion of the store. These areas are identified with "calm space" stickers.

All Carrefour hypermarkets will get these spaces by September 2023. The Group has made disability a key component of its Carrefour 2026 strategic plan. It has been committed to supporting people with disabilities for more than 20 years and has been something of a trailblazer: it has adopted an ambitious policy which aims to take everybody's individual characteristic into account, and it has a culture structured around accepting people's differences and promoting inclusion.

Stéfen Bompais, the Carrefour Group's Director of Inclusivity and Customer Communications said: "Carrefour has long been committed to welcoming people with disabilities to its stores. Since April 2021, in close collaboration with Autisme France, Carrefour has had "quiet shopping times" in nearly 1000 of its stores throughout France. Having dedicated calm spaces and adding maps to the bars of its shopping trolleys are measures that are in line with this commitment – we want our stores to be more inclusive and welcoming for all of our customers, particularly those with disabilities."

REHACARE.com; Source: Carrefour S.A.