Rail staff autism awareness training video - UK

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UK rail operator Great Western are running an internal staff training campaign about passengers with hidden disabilities. They are making a series of videos for front line staff, one of which is about autism, though it actually only features someone with Asperger's Syndrome.

Now I work in the UK rail industry and know exactly how things work (or not) so a lot of the anxiety provoking things mentioned in this video don't cause me any problems in the context of making journeys by train. The video seems to be primarily aimed at train guards although is relevant to other front line staff also. I work on the front line though not as a guard and not at Great Western.

I would be interested to hear any thoughts about the video. Does it get the message across well? Is it a bit narrow in its focus as it relates specifically to Asperger's? I have somewhat mixed feelings about it and can imagine some of my colleagues suggesting the man in the video just needs to get his act together and stop being such a wuss.

I can imagine this sort of thing being rolled out across the industry, so if the company I work for does something similar I would be interested in working with them on ideas that might be helpful (though I certainly wouldn't want to appear in a video). Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Sorry, I don't seem to be able to embed YouTube videos so here is the link for the video. It is about five and a half minutes long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXoAaxjeNm0

That was a little intense to watch because of the nature of someone listing a bunch of triggers back to back, but nice to see. I think a lot of those behaviors could help disabled individuals that are off the spectrum as well. Uncertainty can be a trigger for many mental illnesses and definitely never made anyone with a physical disability feel better. The 50 50 responsibility was a good mention too. It's a nice reminder to me as an aspie that it's okay to ask for help in those situations.

Thank you for the reply.

Hi,

I am able to empathize with him, and relate to the issues mentioned, however, I think the message would be more effective if the person pitching it, were to deliver it from more of an educational perspective or, rather, the perspective of an audience with, virtually, no awareness of the extent to which his issues effect him, and, perhaps, put a bit more emphasis on the positive impact that certain accommodations, reassurance, etcetera, could have on him and his experiences of daily life.

I think they would be fortunate to have you/ a person with extensive knowledge of both, ASD/ Asperger Syndrom and your profession, to provide them with ideas, and assist them with the message's delivery. It seems perfectly fine that you prefer not to be the person who pitches the message, and, I would think they could find someone else to do that. Good idea and best wishes...

The listing of all those things was stressful. I find my senses make these situations very overwhelming.

While I have learnt how to deal with public transport I am pretty sure I have been that passenger once or twice. I once got on the wrong train by mistake and the person told me I had to get off at a random station I didn't know, I am surprised I didn't have a meltdown there and then. I certainly did when I managed to get off the train. Just a little bit of support for changing my whole day would have been nice.

I guess you need to deal with so many people who are taking advantage the ones who are honest and simply confused and upset don't get considered.

Anyway, I thought it was a generally okay video more explaination of the heightened senses etc and how this works would be nice so he doesn't just sound like he is being difficult ahah. But I guess for a general behavioural guideline it's pretty good .

Thank you. That's helpful.