The Fires i Festes de Sant Narcís de Girona, which will start this Friday and will last until November 5, will this year have a space for neurodiverse people, such as those who are part of the autism spectrum.
The Palau Firal of Girona has provided two rooms of about 120 and 80 square meters free of charge so that they can become relaxation points due to the constant sound and visual inputs that are present at any major festival.
The spaces, located on the second floor of the Palau Firal, will be marked with pictograms and will have headphones to minimize noise, according to the councilor for Emotional Wellbeing, Sílvia Bosch.
The smallest room will be for children and will have sensory and reading games, basically illustrated books. The material has been provided by the Abacus cooperative. The largest room will be divided into two spaces: one completely isolated with little light and another with different spaces for rest.
The two rooms will be controlled by hostesses who will explain their operation to users and who will also control the capacity. There will also be volunteers from entities of families with people with autism who will offer information and from CaixaBank.
The vice mayor and councilor for Economic Promotion of the Girona City Council, Gemma Geis, explains that the proposal has a double objective. "On the one hand, offering a calm, friendly space free of the sensory interference that attending a major festival in a big city like Girona can represent for these people, and on the other hand, giving visibility to autism spectrum disorder, a condition often stigmatized and unknown by a large part of the population.
The Calm Space, which is how this project has been named, is an initiative of the Girona City Council and the Autism Chair of the University of Girona. It also has the collaboration of the Catalan Federation of Autism and the association Viu Autisme, which add up to thousands of families in Catalonia. Other companies such as Kave Home, Incatis, Rocambolesc and Eumes also support the project.
