{"id":40883,"date":"2024-01-11T12:40:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T17:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=40883"},"modified":"2024-01-11T12:40:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T17:40:09","slug":"local-landmarks-earn-autism-friendly-certification-enhancing-accessibility-for-polk-county-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/01\/11\/local-landmarks-earn-autism-friendly-certification-enhancing-accessibility-for-polk-county-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Landmarks Earn Autism-Friendly Certification: Enhancing Accessibility for Polk County Residents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Visit Central Florida Welcome Center has received the Certified Autism Center\u2122 (CAC) certification from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES). This certification is given to organizations with staff trained to accommodate autistic and sensory-sensitive visitors. Justin Laferriere, Senior Visitor Service Manager for Visit Central Florida, highlighted the value of this certification for both business and ethical reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"580\" height=\"435\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-1-3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-40884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-1-3.jpeg 580w, https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/image-1-3-300x225.jpeg 300w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Welcome Center, staffed by local experts, provides information and assistance to visitors. It also hosts the USA Water Ski and Wake Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The center, along with LEGOLAND Florida Resort and the Peppa Pig Theme Park in Polk County, are now Certified Autism Centers\u2122.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Myron Pincomb, IBCCES Board Chairman, commented on the partnership with Visit Central Florida Welcome Center. He emphasized the significance of making visitors and their families feel welcome and understood to improve their travel experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IBCCES has been providing cognitive disorder training and certification for professionals for over twenty years. Their programs include evidence-based content that considers the perspectives of autistic individuals and offer ongoing support and renewal requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visit Central Florida is the official destination marketing organization for Polk County in Central Florida. The Welcome Center, a hub for information and discount attraction tickets, is also home to the USA Water Ski and Wake Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. LEGOLAND Florida Resort and the Peppa Pig Theme Park, both in Polk County, are also CAC certified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/visitcentralflorida.org\/blog\/visit-central-florida-welcome-center-earns-certified-autism-center-designation\/\">Visit here for more details<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Visit Central Florida Welcome Center has received the Certified Autism Center\u2122 (CAC) certification from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES). This certification is given to&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[7257],"class_list":["post-40883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-landmarks-earn-autism-friendly-certification-enhancing-accessibility-for-polk-county-residents"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40885,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40883\/revisions\/40885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}