A Wirral cinema has introduced ‘autism friendly’ screenings of films for children.
The Light Cinema in New Brighton has just shown its first screening which involves softer sound and lighting. The films are shown once every three weeks and the cinema is now looking at introducing adult screenings in the same format.
The cinema has been a supporter of the Wirral Autistic Society for some time and Jane Woodason, Education and Events Manager at The Light cinema in New Brighton, told JMU Journalism: “Our first screening went really well and it is good to see other cinemas are doing the same thing.”
However, the cinema in New Brighton hopes to introduce autism friendly screenings for adults, which is currently not done anywhere else. Jane said: “We plan to introduce screenings for our adult audience because this is something we believe can be very helpful and beneficial. We are always trying to give our customers a positive film experience and the autism screenings help that.”
She added: “People with autism can find the whole cinema experience quite confusing so to help them the autism films contain no trailers, brighter lighting and softer sound. There is also no queuing for a ticket because their purchase is made online which makes things a lot easier.”
The cinema continues to work closely with the Wirral Autistic Society and is also offering a ‘Step Into Work’ programme which is run in conjunction with the society, offering people over the age of 18 a three-month work placement at the cinema.