Band-aid solutions like this only serve a small percentage of neurodivergent shoppers with acute challenges, he says, many of whom will already have their own devices and coping mechanisms. It also fails to account for neurodivergent retail staff, who also tend to overindex neurodivergent, according to Neurohaus, but can’t wear headphones throughout their shifts. “If this is the only thing you change, you risk putting all neurodivergent shoppers into the same bucket,” says Olly. “There are plenty of people who would just like things to be less sensorially overwhelming.”
The same applies to quiet hours, which many major supermarkets, shopping centers, and brands have adopted to cater to neurodivergent, elderly, and anxious shoppers. During limited time frames, lights are dimmed, music is turned down or off, and in-store announcements are reduced. “The whole idea of inclusion is that you include people all the time,” says Olly. “Why can neurodivergent shoppers only shop between 8am and 9am on weekends, or between 3pm and 4pm on Wednesdays, excluding school holidays?”
Neuro-inclusive design benefits everyone
Rather than overly simplistic fixes, Neurohaus advocates for companies to engage members of the neurodivergent community, ask challenging questions that truly stress test potential solutions, and adapt environments rather than putting the onus on neurodivergent people to mitigate the challenges. “You don’t know if someone walking into your store is neurodivergent,” says Olly. “Sometimes, they don’t even know it themselves. So this isn’t about saying, ‘Hey, neurodivergent person, this is for you.’ It’s about designing your store experience in a way that is better for everybody.”
Neurohaus has a pool of around 600 neurodivergent shoppers in Oxford, where the company is based, which helps shape the strategies it recommends to brands. They respond to surveys, take part in focus groups, and conduct shop-along trials, both online and in-person. Many of the changes Neurohaus has recommended as a result benefit all shoppers, not just those with neurodivergence. One autistic respondent shopping online expressed frustration at not being able to see the specific weave of a cotton garment, because she experienced sensory sensitivity, and knew the type of weave that felt best on her skin. The solution is offering more information in product descriptions, and zoomed-in product shots that allow shoppers to get a sense of the texture. “That was a fascinating insight that could easily be overlooked if you didn’t sit down with autistic shoppers,” says Olly. “But it could also benefit other shoppers for different reasons.”
When Olly and Amelia started working with Versace, they visited several stores to identify the pain points for neurodivergent shoppers and staff. In one, the menswear department was in an adjoining room to the main space, and there was a sofa in-between, facing outward. Olly sat down to take stock of the space. Another shopper entered, saw Olly staring in his direction, and left, looking uncomfortable. “The simple solution is to turn the sofa around,” says Olly. “Sometimes, it doesn’t need to be rocket science, it’s just being conscious of the flow and how it forces people to interact with each other.”