Cérge

We avoid the shops like the plague as Henry (autistic) normally is overwhelmed within minutes of arriving. To be honest sometimes even before we’ve made it through the car park to get to the shop.This happened a few weeks ago when we had to leave mid shopping experience, I thought we would be ok but it was a disaster. There were boxes everywhere, the store was loud as the music was playing through the loudspeaker and Henry had had enough before we even managed to get half way through our list. We left. Again.I don’t know how many times we have had to abandon cart mid shop, mid car park or just plain avoid shopping altogether. When people say “I’ll just pop into the shop on the way home” because it’s just something they can do. I think to myself I can’t imagine that ease as that is not anything like our life.We notified them via the Cérge app an hour before arriving with our must haves - low noise and light levels if possible and plenty of space for Henry to walk, hold (swing around ) a basket and for the pram if required.Henry is autistic and has a walk which requires more space and I have a pram for him as he can tire easily. We entered the store and within minutes had a lovely woman come up to us and explain that they had received the Cérge notification and could see the must haves and if there’s anything further she could do for us to let her know. I was impressed immediately.The music was off and it was quiet with the staff members moving anything out of the way as we approached and giving us a smile, making sure we could find everything and not showing any bother about it. Do you know how good it felt to not feel judged or like we were annoying people!They also did not stare at his AFOs and spoke to him rather than ignoring him like we experience in other places. This was such an incredible and beautiful extra. Instead of “just avoid, don’t look” which I think sometimes is because people don’t know what to do and I get that. But gee it was nice to feel like a part of the community having chats whilst shopping and Henry happy.My anxiety was the lowest it’s ever been whilst shopping! Henry was getting a little overwhelmed by the end of our shop and Jodi (Manager) opened up another register for us so that we could move through faster, including the kids in the process and again asking if there was anything else we needed help finding.So good! This kind of inclusive and also intuitive experience was so amazing! It was a wonderful experience and definitely a place we will shop again! I didn’t feel the usual stress I do when Henry started showing signs of being overwhelmed (which was right at the end this time, not the start!) as I knew we had the support of the staff members and this was such an incredible feeling of comfort.Henry has already asked when we are going again!!Wow!!Wow!!Wow!!

I thought my love for basketball was gone forever, I thought we had our time & now we were over for good. I haven’t played basketball for 6 years, it’s like losing so much of my identity, a part of myself.I’m a huge fan of sport but I have anxiety & depression, I like to live alone and I like quiet places. Quiet places & sport don’t always go together that well, so for the past few years anxiety wins & I haven’t been able to immerse myself in sport like in the past.I know playing again would help. I just can’t get to the point of where it can help me because my barriers aren’t in playing the sport. My barriers are leaving the house.Whenever I have to go somewhere, my mind pretends like I am already there & starts having different conversations.So many voices & thoughts all telling me different scenarios & that makes it hard for me to concentrate. When I reach the place where I know it will be busy my heart starts beating fast, I feel alot of anxiety & discomfort & my brain get frozen.All I can think of is bad situations. Bad outcomes. Bad scenarios. It’s exhausting.I am scared people are going to make fun of me & won’t talk to me & it loops around & around. When I go in there & I am not comfortable I start feeling anxious & uneasy & feel like running away. Fight or flight kicks in & it can really take over my life.I heard about Cérge & at first wasn’t sure it could help me. I didn’t want to make a big deal or draw attention to myself but I noticed Eagle Stadium was on the app & they have basketball. I love ball.It took me a while to work up the courage to go to check it out. I looked at the Visual Story & Sensory Guide & went through all the stuff on the app. I knew if I could prepare my brain for what it would see by looking at all the photos, then when I get there it would be like what I have already seen & it would hack my brain to feel more at ease.The survival tips and processes of anxiety & depression are very real & often very unnoticed.After a few months I finally felt ready. I had all the information and all the visuals. I used the app to let customer service know I was going and used the Cérge chat in the app also for support.Arriving at Eagle Stadium & going to the courts felt like home, I could not look away. The smell of the court, the squeak of the ball. My body remembered & it felt like home. The staff were so welcoming and kind & gave me a timetable and spoke to me about what was on and when.Hearing the bounce, the ball, the cheers, the thumping as people ran up & down the courts. I need to be back. I am so coming back.I left with desire & a plan! The staff gave me details of who organise teams so I can play in a team & I also asked about tennis because I would love to play tennis. Buts that’s the next story!
 

We are on a family holiday at the moment, myself, my husband and our two teenagers. We are driving from the north of New Zealand to the south.
I am a person who is Deaf and so travelling comes with its challenges. Some tourist attractions are just completely inaccessible to me. We can travel to a place and be very excited and then when we arrive we realise I can’t hear the tour guide or hear the show.
I can’t tell you the continuum of disappointment at times.
I’m a very positive human and with my disability I make the most of every encounter and communication. Sadly the frustration can build up at times.
I communicate via writing, lip reading, New Zealand Sign Language, which is an official language in NZ since 2006, however it doesn’t mean everyone knows or utilises it.
When I saw on the Cérge app that Trust House Recreation Centre has Cérge and was almost in our direction I was so incredibly excited! It’s 30 degrees here today and for us Kiwis that’s an oven. So a swim was the perfect idea!
I notified Trust House in the Cérge app that I would be arriving in 40mins, that I am a person who is Deaf and I would like the staff to communicate via writing, text, signs and gestures!
As soon as I arrived I had two staff members give me the biggest waves and smiles! They had great eye contact with me as I asked questions about the gym and sauna (way too hot for a sauna today hehe). Their enthusiasm to try and to do their best was so appreciated!
They wrote me a note, gave me a timetable and I went off into the pools to enjoy and look around! Trust House Recreation Centre is a great centre, the facilities are amazing and the staff were very friendly.
I read the note, it was about the prices and then a bit that said there was no visual effect for a fire emergency but that the lifeguards were aware of me and the staff member would sign to me if there was a fire.
This made me feel so incredibly safe, I can’t hear fire alarms or sirens and yet never has this been incorporated into a visit to any venue ever for me. I knew, they knew who I was and they would keep me safe.
Above
And
Beyond!
Being able to have inclusive customer service like this means I can visit places without needing a support person to assist with communication and that is a massive plus for me.
I just love that even on a family holiday I can use Cérge to help find inclusive venues and therefore visit them! We enjoyed going to a whole new town because of Cérge! 
Thank you Cérge and thank you Trust House Recreation Centre

Last week, one of our support workers and participants used the Cérge app for the first time! Entering in access needs and support information needed to support Carol was quick and easy. Upon arriving they were greeted and a water wheelchair was waiting at the accessible change rooms.Carol is vision impaired and has a physical disability. Carol looks forward to her weekly outing at TRAC but at times her needs are not met with limited access to the bathroom and often Carol needs to wait for the shower commode chair.Through using the Cérge app, Carol was treated as an individual that relies on support to access the community and on arrival everything was ready to go! Thank you Cérge and TRAC for helping our community to achieve its health goals!Support Your Way recommends checking out the Cérge app & TRAC! Join the Cérge Community and find out more!

I wear two hats as I am the dad of a son (28 years old) who is quadriplegic, with Cerebral Palsy and I’ve been his carer for most of his life until NDIS came along. My son Christoper is an incredible human and is volunteering as the Qld Air Museum Video Production Manager. He uses a head switch and eye-tracking to control his devices and edit videos, operate cameras and fly drones. He is also my very own personal tech support! Haha
Being his dad and carer has taught me a lot over the years. My second hat is that of being the President of the Queensland Air Museum. I am one of over 140 active volunteers. 

You see our volunteers want to be able to provide a welcome and good service to anyone and everyone who visits us. We want to be as accessible and inclusive as possible and we want everyone to enjoy our amazing venue and we hope that shines through when you visit. 
We want people to feel as though we are interested in treating them as a person and not as a disability. Everyone comes to enjoy history and planes and that’s a passion we can all share together.

The Cérge website is brilliant and it’s started us on such a good path. We now have a button front and centre on our website - a wheelchair icon as it’s the universal symbol for disability, even though we know not all disability means a wheelchair. We have a lot of information now to share with every customer before they even arrive so they can check us out before they travel to visit us: Access guides, Visual Story, Virtual Tour, Keyword Sign Board, Audio Guide 

It is so brilliant that people can see it so easily and from the safety of their home where they can plan their outings. They can even use the measuring tool in the virtual tour to measure heights. It’s very cool!

Cérge has been the talk of the town here and has started us with a bunch of new projects and plans. We now have one of our volunteers who has taken on the role of developing an Access and Inclusion plan. 
Obviously infrastructure is always one to improve on. I’m working on a way to assist people with mobility challenges to access cockpit of an aircraft.

Alongside this we are also currently launching a major infrastructure development that is very exciting, it will take time but we have lots of things on the go to deliver the best access and inclusion possible. 
We are very excited to have Cérge showcasing our air museum which we just love. Opening up and seeing all of the photos and the virtual tour just speaks volumes to our visitors and visitors to be! Not to mention the whole community who sees our business caring about each person as best we can. 

My role as president is to influence the culture of our organisation as well as the infrastructure and we are always trying to improve!
See you soon for a tour of all the amazing planes and many displays!

My Mr 11 Autistic and ADHD and runs off a lot. It is extremely 
scary because I never know when or where he is going to go. He 
will see something he wants to go and just run.
It’s terrifying.
One thing I try to do is show him places before we arrive to set his 
expectations, we can map out where to go and what is there and I 
can explain he will get to see everything he wants to see.
The problem is, not much information is provided online that I 
need. 
I don’t even want to tell you about the level of disappointment if 
that information is outdated and when we arrive things are 
different.
It puts 1000 spanners in the works.
I’m tired.
This is why when we saw Maleny Botanical Garden and Bird World 
on the Cérge website we were so excited. Cooper is bird mad! He LOVES them.
I knew at this level of excitement we would have to really layer the 
experience so I could prepare him.
Cérge has everything.
I showed him the Visual Story so we could walk through the 
photos of the entrance (some birds around), the pathways, to the 
bird world and inside and around the gardens and exhibits. It’s a 
big space and a bit daunting when I have a runner. Yet this 
information was our toolkit for survival and a fun day!
The Virtual Tour on the Cérge app had us able to see the whole 
place so that really helped prepare also. Cooper was SO excited!
We paid our entry and grabbed our maps and met the first birds! 
The pathways and exhibits are great! Some parts are steep so if 
you use a wheelchair you would want to check Cérge tools online 
to make sure it’s accessible for you. There are golf buggies to use 
and that’s a lot of fun!
The views are incredible! Wow! Heavens!
I was worried Cooper would be having TOO MUCH fun! Haha what 
a problem to have hey, but in all honesty I was worried he 
wouldn’t want to leave but he listened to instructions and it was a 
truly excellent day.
The staff are friendly and informative they checked who wanted 
birds on them and who didn’t which was great! The staff 
communicated fantastically and used multiple methods. They 
spoke clear and concise and used their hand movements also. This 
was really effective for us.
The whole vibe is just excellent!
Cooper got to interact with all types of birds, galahs, macaws, 
pigeons, cockatoos and more. He was in his element that’s for 
sure! I loved seeing my boy having so much fun, in his zone, brave 
and engaged! What a truly incredible experience for him!
We will be back!