The Altona Sports Centre is the first grass roots stadium in Australia to achieve Sensory Inclusive Accreditation.
Sensory inclusivity caters to everyone with sensory needs, including military vets with PTSD, adults with dementia, Parkinson’s disease, stroke patients and more.
Marketing Coordinator Anita Pantalleresco said their sensory inclusion was inspired by one of their sponsors Donna Abu-Elias and her son who is on the spectrum.
“We were having discussions on doing an inclusion round because of how loud basketball stadiums can be,” she said.
“They can be quite overwhelming with the whistles and the large crowds.”
The centre received its accreditation through KultureCity, by having sensory bags in their canteen on a permanent basis which people can hire for free.
“We also have signage around the stadium for headphone zones, which are loud areas around the stadium, so people are aware that you’re entering a very loud area,” she said.
“As well as a sensory room, which is essentially a quiet room where kids have the opportunity to come up and visit people who are playing, when they might not have been able to in the past because it is so loud.”
Donna is also on the board of KultureCity, a non for profit organisation which trains staff at venues and then certifies venues which have sensory inclusive modifications.
KultureCity focuses on helping people whose sensory needs impact their day to day activities, which Donna said is done through training employees and volunteers on how to equip the venue.
The stadium celebrated their accreditation with a Sensory Inclusion Day, which Anita said they hope to make a recurring event.
‘We would like to do it annually at a minimum , but hope we can do it more often.”
Jennifer Pittorino
