LETTER FROM MONTREAL

This Sunday morning, as they do every three months, the staff at the Montreal Science Centre were organizing one of their "peaceful mornings." This event is aimed exclusively at visitors with special needs, whether they have physical or intellectual disabilities, or are "on the autism spectrum," as museum director Cybèle Robichaud explained. The experience is different from a regular morning: dimmed lighting, game sounds turned down to a minimum, a calming room, and with fewer people, plenty of space for everyone. "It's important that they feel at ease and that stimuli are limited," said the director.

Julie Bourgeois, mother of Charles, a six-year-old blond autistic boy, never misses one of these mornings. "He goes, and then he tells us about it for months, until we go to the next one," she said with a smile, as her son was being wrapped in a huge soap bubble. "The bubble could trigger screams, if there were people and noise around. But here, nothing, he's relaxed!"

When there are too many rules, young people living with differences can feel restricted and overwhelmed. The director has conceived these mornings as a space of freedom. "I remember a 13-year-old girl with a cognitive disability. For her, the best way to explore the center was without socks. Not a problem for us!"

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