AGXStarseed
Well-Known Member
(Not written by me)
THE FORCE IS STRONG: Helen Wallace-Iles and husband Nigel at the re-launch of the cinema club
A CINEMA club which allows people with autism to watch the latest blockbusters for free in a "friendly" environment has been relaunched.
The volume and special effects at cinemas are designed to stimulate the senses and for people with autism, who can be hypersensitive, this can be too much. Each month Cineworld Crawley puts on an autism-friendly screening where the lights are left on low, the sound is turned down and the brightness of the screen is reduced.
Members of the audiences are also free to move around and sit wherever they like, while they can also bring along their own food and drink.
For two years Autism All Stars paid for 20 families a month to go to these screenings at the cinema in Crawley Leisure Park for free but had to stop six months ago due to a lack of funds.
However, the charity re-launched the Autism All Stars Film Club on Sunday (January 3) with a screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens thanks to two large donations.
The charity's founder Helen Wallace-Iles said: "I launched the film club back in May 2013 because nobody knew about these screenings and they are such a brilliant concept.
"Parents of children on the autistic spectrum and carers of older adults with autism just presumed going to the cinema was out of the equation.
"You don't want to be in a packed cinema, feeling as though you are ruining it with people tutting because they don't realise why your child is jumping around or clearly uncomfortable.
"At the autism-friendly screenings you don't have this concern. You are there with other people in the same situation.
"When I took my daughter Isabelle, who is eight, to her first non autism-friendly screening she was absolutely hysterical.
"She spent the whole time with her fingers in her ears asking me why it was so loud.
"It was a surprise to realise just how sensitive she was to the experience."
Before the film club was forced to stop, the demand for the free tickets had drastically increased.
Mrs Wallace-Iles, 49, from Salfords, near Redhill, added: "When we first started we struggled to barely give five tickets away due to the lack of awareness.
"As word spread the numbers grew and grew. The feedback we got was that families used these screenings as a stepping stone to start attending standard film showings.
"Routines are extremely important for people with autism so it is a good start to help them understand the process and the social need to be quiet during the film.
"We were really upset when we ran out of money.
"It costs £2,250 a year to pay for all the tickets and additional costs such as the transport for some people to get there.
"We've had two £1,000 grants so the cost to run the film club again for the whole of 2016 is all but already covered."
Mrs Wallace-Iles, who has four children on the autistic spectrum, invites people from Crawley and all over Surrey and Sussex to apply for free tickets.
Dimensions, a not-for-profit organisation supporting people with learning difficulties and autism, works with Cineworld to host the autism-friendly screenings on the first Sunday of each month.
A party was held for the re-launch of the film club at Cineworld on Sunday with supporters dressed as characters from Star Wars.
Families can apply for tickets to the next screening by going to www.autism-all-stars.org
SOURCE: http://www.crawleynews.co.uk/Film-c...eople-autism/story-28467860-detail/story.html
THE FORCE IS STRONG: Helen Wallace-Iles and husband Nigel at the re-launch of the cinema club
A CINEMA club which allows people with autism to watch the latest blockbusters for free in a "friendly" environment has been relaunched.
The volume and special effects at cinemas are designed to stimulate the senses and for people with autism, who can be hypersensitive, this can be too much. Each month Cineworld Crawley puts on an autism-friendly screening where the lights are left on low, the sound is turned down and the brightness of the screen is reduced.
Members of the audiences are also free to move around and sit wherever they like, while they can also bring along their own food and drink.
For two years Autism All Stars paid for 20 families a month to go to these screenings at the cinema in Crawley Leisure Park for free but had to stop six months ago due to a lack of funds.
However, the charity re-launched the Autism All Stars Film Club on Sunday (January 3) with a screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens thanks to two large donations.
The charity's founder Helen Wallace-Iles said: "I launched the film club back in May 2013 because nobody knew about these screenings and they are such a brilliant concept.
"Parents of children on the autistic spectrum and carers of older adults with autism just presumed going to the cinema was out of the equation.
"You don't want to be in a packed cinema, feeling as though you are ruining it with people tutting because they don't realise why your child is jumping around or clearly uncomfortable.
"At the autism-friendly screenings you don't have this concern. You are there with other people in the same situation.
"When I took my daughter Isabelle, who is eight, to her first non autism-friendly screening she was absolutely hysterical.
"She spent the whole time with her fingers in her ears asking me why it was so loud.
"It was a surprise to realise just how sensitive she was to the experience."
Before the film club was forced to stop, the demand for the free tickets had drastically increased.
Mrs Wallace-Iles, 49, from Salfords, near Redhill, added: "When we first started we struggled to barely give five tickets away due to the lack of awareness.
"As word spread the numbers grew and grew. The feedback we got was that families used these screenings as a stepping stone to start attending standard film showings.
"Routines are extremely important for people with autism so it is a good start to help them understand the process and the social need to be quiet during the film.
"We were really upset when we ran out of money.
"It costs £2,250 a year to pay for all the tickets and additional costs such as the transport for some people to get there.
"We've had two £1,000 grants so the cost to run the film club again for the whole of 2016 is all but already covered."
Mrs Wallace-Iles, who has four children on the autistic spectrum, invites people from Crawley and all over Surrey and Sussex to apply for free tickets.
Dimensions, a not-for-profit organisation supporting people with learning difficulties and autism, works with Cineworld to host the autism-friendly screenings on the first Sunday of each month.
A party was held for the re-launch of the film club at Cineworld on Sunday with supporters dressed as characters from Star Wars.
Families can apply for tickets to the next screening by going to www.autism-all-stars.org
SOURCE: http://www.crawleynews.co.uk/Film-c...eople-autism/story-28467860-detail/story.html
