Autism Friendly Towns

AsIAm’s Autism Friendly Towns, proudly supported by PTSB

AsIAm, Ireland’s Autism charity, is expanding its Autism Friendly Towns Programme, proudly supported by PTSB. The Programme empowers cities, towns and villages across Ireland to become genuinely inclusive of Autistic people and their families. To date, there are 40 communities around Ireland taking part.

The Programme provides a clear, three-year framework for communities to earn Autism Friendly Town status, based on tangible, sustainable actions such as forming local committees, engaging employers, and through training Autism Friendly Champions.

At its core, the Autism Friendly Towns Framework addresses four key barriers to inclusion for autistic individuals:

• Communication
• Predictability and control
• Sensory processing challenges
• Judgment and societal attitudes

Learn more about the Autism Friendly Town’s Programme 

PTSB announces a three-year partnership with AsIAm, Ireland’s Autism Charity

In September 2024, PTSB announced a multi-year partnership with AsIAm, enabling the charity to further support autistic customers and families and to promote and drive greater inclusivity in Irish society.

In addition to the partnership announcement, PTSB was pleased to become the first bank in Ireland to receive Autism-Friendly branch accreditation in key locations across the country.

The Autism-Friendly accreditation has been received because these branches meet the following AsIAm criteria:

• A minimum of 90% of front-facing staff have been trained in ‘Understanding Autism’ and ‘Supporting Autistic Customers & their Families’
• A sensory and accessibility audit and evaluation has been carried out in each branch
• PTSB has designed and published a sensory map for each branch, which is being made available both online and in-branch
• PTSB has created a Charter of Inclusion for each branch outlining short, medium and long-term goals and recording relevant achievements in progressing towards these goals

PTSB is currently working towards achieving accreditation in additional branches nationwide.

Read more about this partnership.