BOSTON (WHDH) - A series of new sensory rooms are debuting at TD Garden as officials hope to provide a more welcoming environment for all fans.
The four rooms will be open for the upcoming Bruins and Celtics seasons. With the rooms now set up within the TD Garden, organizers have said their program offers the largest number of sensory rooms in a single venue in the world.
“When we think about diversity and inclusion, what we’re doing here is creating a community,” said Dustin Giannelli of Hearsdustin.com.
The sensory room areas will create a calmer environment for fans to step away from the sometimes overwhelming sights and sounds of the game.
Speaking about the rooms, Kulturecity Executive Director Uma Srivastava said they “are geared for anybody who might have a sensory need.”
Srivastava continued, saying studies show one in four people have such sensory needs.
“As someone who is profoundly deaf, it’s all about awareness and the needs that we all rely on in public venues and areas like that,” Giannelli said.
In addition to peace and quiet, the rooms at TD Garden also offer therapeutic features designed to help visitors relax.
There will be relaxing lighting and sensory activities for visitors to engage with to enjoy their time supporting their team.
At a ribbon cutting on Wednesday for the new rooms, TD Garden staff said they want to make sure everyone can get a chance to take a break if they need to.
“These are not rooms just for individuals that might have sensitivities due to autism or PTSD or other processing disorders,” said TD Garden President Amy Latimer. “There are sometimes just families that are in here that might need a break or might have a child or an adult that just needs a break.”
“It could be a group of adult friends coming in,” Srivastava said. “It could be a family with young kids coming in. So, age doesn’t matter and diagnosis doesn’t matter. As long as you need a safe space, we’ve got one.”
Beyond the sensory rooms, the TD Garden has also launched a “Sensory Bags” program at guest services areas. The bags have items like headphones and fidget spinners for those who need them but don’t want to miss any part of the game they’re attending.
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