While some people enjoy lively events, other individuals can find loud or crowded environments overwhelming or even distressing.
The Parks and Recreation Department’s new sensory room, known as the Break Room, offers respite amidst busy events and is one of the many efforts throughout the city to make events more accessible for visitors and community members.
A safe place to land
Teresa Breckenridge
Introduced in August 2025 during National Night Out, the Break Room offers a low-stimulation environment with free sensory bags, carrying items for emotion regulation, such as fidget toys and noise reducing headphones.
When developing the Break Room, Adaptive and Strategic Programs Supervisor Maddison Mattey says the Parks and Recreation department consulted KultureCity, an international nonprofit that promotes sensory accessibility. The group offers training to teach people how to assist sensory sensitive individuals, and provides the sensory bags available in the Break Room and places such as The Big Splash.
The department additionally worked with the Autism Society of Central Ohio (ASCO), a nonprofit which advocates for and supports individuals with autism, since it hosts sensory rooms at various county fairs.
“Just to hear lessons learned from them (about) what items are highly used, what space considerations they’ve had that worked... we were able to come up with a comprehensive plan to be deployed easily, quickly and in the most sensory sensitive way for all of our City events,” Mattey says.
All welcome
While individuals with autism and sensory sensitivities can benefit from the quiet space, the Break Room is open to all.
“Rather than calling it a sensory room, we decided to go with the Break Room. I think that makes it a little more accessible for people who might not have a diagnosed sensory disorder, but maybe just are overwhelmed,” Mattey says.
She says the Break Room has been a good place for families with young children, though she notes the department is still working to get the word out.
“It’s kind of a catch-22 because, if you are a family or a person who has sensory sensitivities who would benefit from the sensory room, your first thought on a Friday night is not to go to the community event where it’s going to loud and overwhelming,” Mattey says. “Until those people know that the sensory room exists, we will see a lower usage.”
A flexible space
While venues such as COSI and Nationwide Arena have a dedicated location for their sensory rooms, the Break Room can be deployed where needed.
For most of 2025, the Break Room was housed at the Police/Safety Building in the Mayor’s Court. When that space is booked, it can just as easily be set up nearby at the Welcome Center and Museum.
“The sensory room is meant to be mobile,” Mattey says. “We wanted the flexibility to be able to deploy it out of a pop-up tent in a park, in the Mayor’s Court, in the Beulah Pavilion, wherever it might need to be.”
Mattey says she hopes the buy-in to the Break Room will grow so that the department can have a sensory room at multiple locations simultaneously.
With Grove City being one of the first central Ohio suburbs to have a sensory room, Mattey is proud of the strides made toward inclusivity.
“Adaptive programming happens in different parts of the metro area, but it’s traditionally north.... And so, folks that need adaptive programming and live in southwest central Ohio have to travel far away,” Mattey says. “We’re trying to flip that script, make Grove City a hub for adaptive programming. We’ve committed to having this for as many community events as possible.”
Maddison Mattey
Maddison Mattey
Maddison Mattey
Maddison Mattey
Sensory-Friendly City
Visit Grove City (VGC) also heads up its own sensory-friendly and inclusivity initiatives, collaborating with Parks and Recreation as well as organizations such as ASCO to promote events with sensory accommodations. Starting with its Visitor Center which features its Living Room, a quiet space which includes sensory bags.
Sales and Communications Manager Teresa Breckenridge says the visitor bureau’s brand, Altogether Adventure®, focuses on inclusivity and adaptability. She and her colleagues, Amanda Davis and Tiffany Kirkbride, help ensure visitors receive the accommodations they need.
Additionally, the team is working on becoming Certified Autism Travel Professionals through the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards.
Breckenridge, who received her certification in December 2024, says the training offered insight on autistic individuals’ experiences, highlighting aspects such as planning ahead, managing sensory input, providing quiet rooms and maintaining consistency for the individual.
This past year, Breckenridge was also appointed as a board member of ASCO, which provides sensory bags for the Living Room and the Grove City Library.
Breckenridge has been working with ASCO for several years as she and her husband raise their 10-year-old grandson, Bennett, who she says is “awesomely autistic.”
Though Breckenridge says advocacy has come a long way, it still has ways to go and she is proud of initiatives such as the Break Room and other growing commitments to accessibility within the city.
“I have firsthand knowledge and I get excited to know that (people with autism) can do what other individuals can do too,” Breckenridge says. “And for me to be able to advocate for that and show them where they can go do it at or create work with these collaborators to create the event with them is what excites me.”
Amanda Stevens is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
