The lanyards are used by people with a non-visible disability to indicate the wearer would like additional support, assistance or a little more time. Those disabilities may include anxiety, autism, dementia, hearing impairment, epilepsy and partial sight. 

Airport Head of Customer & Commercial, Craig Dunstan says the airport team began working towards implementing the scheme a couple of years ago, but paused while the pandemic impacted passenger numbers through the terminal.

“The distinctive lanyard is well known at many airports across the world, so developing our scheme involved listening to many groups, including other airports, community health advisors, groups supporting people with disabilities, and families whose children benefit from wearing the lanyard,” Craig says.

“Almost one in four people identifies as having a mild or severe disability, so the various groups representing them offered us very helpful information to shape our scheme.”

“Hidden disabilities can affect a person’s day-to-day life, but not be immediately obvious to people interacting with them. It was especially enlightening to learn from lanyard wearers what does and doesn’t work for them, and hear their suggestions about how it would work best for them at our airport.