SALT LAKE CITY — Winnie Moore was the first kid to experience the Salt Lake City International Airport’s new sensory room.
“Oh man,” the 10-year-old said, touching one of the activity panels inside. “So squishy.”
As a woman with autism, Meg Raby Klinghoffer says spaces like this with bean bags, light and activity panels, and air walls will make traveling a lot less stressful.
“You don't know what I'm arriving to this airport with,” she said. “Having something like a sensory room to retreat to and to catch a reprieve, having something like this to feel my best self, is such a gift.”
One in four people in the U.S. have a sensory need or an invisible disability, said Uma Srivastava, the executive director of KultureCity.
“Every fourth person here has some sort of sensory need — whether it's autism, anxiety, PTSD, dementia, Parkinson's, epilepsy, ADHD,” she said. “Whether it's a physical condition or something invisible, each of us sometimes does get overwhelmed.”
Mayor Erin Mendenhall said having this resource will encourage more travelers to fly to Salt Lake City, knowing they’ll have their needs met going through the airport.
“We're talking about young people and adults who have different sensory challenges,” she said. “We're talking about veterans with PTSD. We're talking about anyone: elderly, people perhaps with different memory care needs who may become overwhelmed even in an airport that's as beautiful and as efficient as Salt Lake City is.”
This sensory room is the first of three to open. It's located on Concourse A East, next to White Horse.
