WAILUKU–Andrea Rodgers, executive director of Maui Hope, said Saturday’s sensory-friendly event at the Maui Ocean Center helps raise awareness about the importance of normalizing engagement with people of all walks of life.

The event, held in honor of autism acceptance, extends complimentary general admission tickets to individuals with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental disabilities and up to five members of their friends and family and will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Throughout the evening, the Maui Ocean Center dims its aquarium lights, turns down the music and stays open after hours to accommodate the guests.

After hearing of a similar event at the Smithsonian Museum, Rodgers said she wanted to help build an opportunity here on Maui with a focus on inclusivity.

“I don’t want it to be special for them. I want it to be an environment where we recreate a normal day to truly include special-needs people. It’s not for them, but a way to include them,” she said.

Maui Hope has co-sponsored several of these sensory-friendly nights with the Maui Ocean Center in the past, and Rodgers said this is the second one this year. They have around 600 RSVPs thus far, she said.

Rodgers said the effort continues to align with the organization’s goal to serve while gaining comprehensive knowledge and understanding of special needs adult lifestyle, and investigating enhancements and advancement of humanitarian social needs.

“We like to work on the idea of how do we use government services to create what I call ‘the ordinary life.'” Just because you have disabilities doesn’t mean you don’t want the same things that everyone else wants,” she said.

“It’s a way of changing our normal, to make sure they fit in and that everybody there is aware there may be somebody there with a behavior, and there may be somebody there yelling or that needs extra attention and we’re OK with that – that’s just life,” Rodgers added.

Donna Ting, president of Maui Hope, described the collaboration as “a real gift.”

“It opens the world to people who otherwise don’t have the ability to absorb,” she said. “Life is running by you, and people with special needs need time. They need to have lights low, and music low and not insanity,” she said.

Kimberly Lewis, the aquarium’s front gate manager said the evenings are “full of energy.”

“The gratitude from the parents is worth everything,” she said.

Mike Morris, communications manager at the Maui Ocean Center, said sensory-friendly Saturdays create a space for community engagement and understanding.

“It’s important to us that our entire Maui community can experience the wonder of the island’s marine life,” he said.

Maui Hope is a 501c3 non-profit research and services organization primarily engaged in applied research in the field of developmental disabilities research and services. Their key objective is to serve while gaining comprehensive knowledge and understanding of special needs adult lifestyle, and investigating enhancements and advancement of these humanitarian social needs.

Established in 2020 on Maui’s North Shore and licensed by the Hawaii Department of Health as a Medicaid Waiver Agency in 2021, the non-profit was birthed as a response to the staff shortages seen as a result of COVID-19.

At the moment there is a critical lack of research for what promotes quality and sustainable caregiving for individuals with special needs and the importance of meaningful relationships as the key to supporting our loved ones to live their best lives.

Visit www.mauihope.org for more information. Visit www.mauioceancenter.com for more information about the aquarium.