The Lego Group, Lego House and the Lego Foundation have announced a range of long-term initiatives to support and celebrate neurodivergent children and adults and mark the start of World Autism Acceptance Month.
Colette Burke, chief commercial officer at the Lego Group, said: “We know the Lego System in Play is enjoyed by neurodivergent fans of all ages and we want to support, inspire and celebrate their creativity. We hope that the changes to our stores, publications and family attractions will have a positive impact and help embrace the diverse needs and strengths of our fans globally. There will always be more to do, and we’re committed to working with fans and experts to implement initiatives that can help make a difference in building a more inclusive world.”
For sensory inclusion at Lego House in Denmark and Lego stores, the Lego Group has partnered with KultureCity, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to enhancing accessibility in public spaces for individuals with sensory needs and non-visible disabilities. It certifies locations which provide visitors with an inclusive experience through staff training and access to support tools. It also means that sensory bags are always available to checkout at no cost during visits. These contain items such as noise reducing headphones, fidget tools, visual cue cards, KultureCity branded lanyards and strobe reduction glasses. All Lego stores in the US and Canada will be KultureCity Sensory Inclusive Certified in April. The ambition is to to expand certification to more countries later in the year. The Lego House is now certified.
New features are also being added to Lego Life Magazine for more inclusive play. The Lego Group invited inclusion expert Special Networks to audit the magazine to understand how to make it more welcoming for neurodivergent readers. Special Networks reviewed two years’ worth of editions and praised the magazine’s clear language, diverse representation and user-friendly layouts. However, the organisation proposed a range of improvements which have been included in the latest edition (Issue 2 2024) and will continue to feature in future editions. A summary of initial audit learnings is available here.
A series of short films featuring autistic creators has also been released on the Lego Group’s YouTube channel. Three creators appear now in the kid-safe Lego Life App and on kids.lego.com.
Finally, The Lego Foundation’s Play for All Accelerator Programme is a three-phased programme aimed to support innovations that bring inclusive learning through play to neurodivergent children and their families. The $20m programme started with 25 organisations and the Lego Foundation has announced the five organisations to have been selected to become partners for two to three years: Social Cipher, Kokoro Kids, Mom’s Belief, onebillion and Little Journey.
