Mr. Brendan Allen:

From a personal perspective, more by accident than design, the conditions created by the Covid pandemic created the type of environment where nothing was competing for attention. It was much easier. There was less clutter, noise and all the sensory things that seem to overload people. Somebody could be brought into the city centre, for example, and find that the sensory competition the Deputy referenced did not exist.

On predictability, and I am not suggesting we go back to these things, aspects of the Covid restrictions functioned very well. An autistic person does not know what 2 m is, as is the case for many people. However, when lines are put on the ground that indicate 2m and where the standing space is, that is the type of predictability that is being talked about. Good things came out of the pandemic. I am guessing we will probably have some research that will pick up on some of those Covid measures that worked, from a sensory-type perspective.