Edendale Community Environment Farm

I live with autism, epilepsy and have had some mental health challenges so it can take me a bit to prepare for new things/ventures at times.

  In the past when visiting new venues, I get very nervous. I have had severe social anxiety, I have had quite negative experiences wherein after my first interaction with members of staff, I overheard them talking about me that I was "cold", and for the duration of when I was in their presence they continued talking quietly amongst themselves. This for me really tainted my experience at that place and left me feeling quite shook up afterwards. I have a fair bit of residual anxiety from that experience.

  So to go to Edendale Farm I was nervous but I liked that I could out my “Must Know” information into the app and let them know I may be shy at first.

  I had looked over all the information on the Cérge app, this helped enormously so I could see the venue before I arrived. I was able to feel they would be welcoming and that I would feel comfortable. This was a game changer in me going or not going.

  I notified the Edendale Farm on the app that I was coming and that I would be about 60mins away. I let them know I find first interactions with strangers stressful so they were aware. It felt good to know they knew that about me so wouldn’t assume I was cold or not wanting help.

  At Edendale there are plenty of signs including prior to arrival to help Guide there. Signs included helpful visuals too. The parking was straight forward, there are wide walking paths so visitors could be spaced out . I really appreciated for certain priority things such as toilets there were a number of signs of various sizes. I felt welcome with the signage identifying it as a venue supportive of LGBTI visitors . I appreciated that staff weren’t overbearing but were present across the location and felt friendly and approachable for me to ask questions or chat with as I was comfortable to.

  Upon leaving the venue, I felt positive - like I'd had a good and recharging experience, felt connected to friendly staff without feeling drained as if I had to interact more than I felt like. I came across a staff member Pete who was helpful in providing background information and direction. 

  I felt really re-assured and more confident/ excited to visit today with the visual story and plenty of clear photos so that I could get my head around the layout and setting prior to going. 
I can’t wait to visit again! Thank you for wanting to be more inclusive for people!

My daughter has POTS (Post Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) and fatigues very easily. Her limited mobility and pain means that she often needs to use a wheelchair on outings. I usually push her wheelchair, but with my own pain and fatigue to deal with, this can be tough.

Going out is a big deal and of course anxiety producing. Imagine arriving at a venue that everyone is ready to enjoy and you can’t get in. Trust me, it happens far too often!

When my kids were younger, we visited Edendale Farm quite often, so I was familiar with the layout. Even though it was nice to plan to revisit it, I was still nervous about navigating it with my daughter’s wheelchair as I haven't done it before. There is a big difference when you have to factor in access from the point of view of a wheelchair. Doorways, steps, pathways, slopes, will I get bogged? Stuck?

I love that Cérge has a Visual Story and so we used that before we went to get an idea of where the paths were and it really eased my anxiety.

We went into the main office and I introduced myself to the two staff. We didn't have any complex requirements, so I was quite happy to just chat with them about it a little. Being brand new to the app, it was great to share how much it helps.

It was a hot day and so we did our best with wandering around and managing all of our needs. We all started to get a bit hot and grumpy so we hit the cafe. I felt quite confident to leave the kids there and go for a brief walk by myself when I needed a break to help with my own emotional regulation, as I was disappointed with myself for not getting there earlier and not preparing adequately for the hot weather.

I found a nice quiet area and was able to just sit and look at the beautiful scenery and decompress. I needed a minute and I got a few! I could then rejoin the kids with a lot more positive energy.

We left soon after, and I was glad that we had been able to get a parking spot right next to the main pathway. It was a short visit but the main thing was that we had managed it successfully and it was adding to the number of experiences we had had with visiting places with the wheelchair!

I am feeling much more confident in the access and being prepared regard, and we were all sure that we wanted to come back to Edendale another day soon! And it gives us more confidence to look at what else Cérge offers and think about other outings we could do!

Edendale Farm is an ideal place for Cerge, as there are a lot of different environments and physical layouts to work out. Having a 3-D Virtual Tour to walk through beforehand really helps with reducing the overall level of new sensory inputs, and allows people to plan their outing, There is just so much to do and different places to go, with varying accessibility challenges so it was a challenge diffuser for sure!