Why the House of Lords inquiry signals the end of improvised sensory support, and what the events industry must do next.

The House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Committee has this week published its findings, and one message cuts through everything:

Support for autistic people can no longer be improvised, superficial, or left to goodwill. It must be designed, structured, and rooted in autistic-led expertise.

For years, autistic people have been forced to navigate environments that were never built with them in mind. This inquiry finally calls time on “DIY solutions”, especially in public-facing environments like events.

And make no mistake: events are built environments, temporary, high-intensity, noisy, complex ones, but environments all the same, and that means the industry is now firmly in scope.

1. What “No More DIY” actually means

The Committee’s report doesn’t spell it out in event language, but the implications are crystal clear. When they say support must be autism-informed, accountable, and properly designed, here’s what that means for event organisers:

❌ No more ad-hoc “quiet rooms and corners.”

A beanbag behind a partition is not sensory access, quiet rooms and sensory spaces must be:

intentionally designed
acoustically considered
lighting-controlled
zoned properly
staffed and supervised
co-designed with autistic people

This is environment design, not décor.

❌ No more random wayfinding.

Autistic people need predictability, clarity and advance information.

Sensory maps, navigation routes, floor plans, and communication need to be:

tested
accessible
consistent
representative of real-world sensory load

If attendees can’t find the support, it doesn’t exist.

❌ No more relying on goodwill or untrained volunteers.

The inquiry is clear: frontline staff must understand autism.

That means sensory and quiet spaces cannot be run by:

volunteers
stewards “keeping an eye”
medics doubling up
anyone untrained

These spaces are safeguarding environments, supervision must be specialist, trauma-informed, and rooted in ND lived experience.

❌ No more hoping your venue is “quiet enough.”

Noise, crowds, echo, visual movement, smells, lighting flicker, all of these can be overwhelming.

Risk assessments must now include:

sensory exposure
noise zones
crowd flow
exit routes
decompression access
high-risk periods
peak capacity “crush” moments

This is as essential as fire safety.

❌ No more one-off gestures.

A quiet room “if budget allows” isn’t good enough.

Support must be:

planned from the start
costed
logged
integrated into accessibility and health-and-safety frameworks
staffed
measurable

Inclusion isn’t something you scramble to fix on build day.

❌ No more generic “we’re inclusive” statements.

Autistic and ND needs are not the same across all people, support must be tailored, personalised, co-designed, and accountable. This is why the Committee stresses lived-experience involvement, not assumptions or guesswork.

2. Why this matters — not just for Autistic people, but for the entire events industry

Ending “DIY support” isn’t just morally right, it’s operationally smart.

This shift:

✔ reduces risk

(safeguarding, liability, reputational, insurance, H&S)

✔ widens accessibility

(people stay longer, feel safer, attend again)

✔ prevents mismanagement

(no overwhelmed attendees left alone, no escalation)

✔ aligns organisers with national policy

(Autism Strategy 2026 expectations)

✔ builds trust

(attendees know your event is safe, predictable, welcoming)

✔ differentiates leading organisers from those doing the bare minimum

(“tick-box access” is going to age badly, and quickly)

Ultimately, accessible events are better events, more humane, more welcoming, more future-proof.

3. EventWell has been delivering “No DIY Support” since day one

Everything the Autism Act Committee is now calling for, we’ve been doing for four years:

autistic-designed Quiet Rooms
supervised SensoryCalm spaces
sensory mapping across entire event footprints
trained neurodivergent Hosts
trauma-informed, safeguarding-aligned support
clear attendee comms and sensory guides
proper supervision, never “volunteers”
structured processes, not guesswork
ND-led expertise baked into every step

We didn’t start offering this because it became trendy, we built it because autistic and ND attendees deserve safety and dignity at events, and because the industry had a glaring gap no one else was filling. Now, the House of Lords has effectively said what we’ve been saying all along:

Sensory support cannot be improvised.

It must be professionally designed, delivered, and informed by autistic people. If the events industry wants to meet its responsibilities, and future policy requirements, the solutions already exist, and the standard has already been set.

4. Where events go from here

Over the next 12 months, the industry will see:

tighter expectations
higher accessibility standards
new procurement requirements
more demand for lived-experience providers
stronger compliance around safety in sensory spaces
less tolerance for “nice-to-have” thinking

The events sector can lead — or lag, but the direction is not negotiable anymore, no more DIY, no more guessing, no more afterthoughts, no more untrained supervision.

Do it properly.
Work with autistic-led specialists.
And make events safe, accessible, and future-ready.

“No More DIY Support” — What the Autism Act Committee Really Means for Events