Wow there's a lot of us

I have to give a shout out to AMC Theaters. They are a national chain and they have begun a regular event - "sensory friendly" movie showings. They appear to be working with autism societies in cities all over the country to publicize these periodic showings of first-run movies designed specifically for audiences who might have trouble or be worried about attending regular showings. I could find no mention of this on the AMC Entertainment website, but they are doing these all over the country.

During these special showings, the lights are left up, the sound is lower than usual, and the audience is free to be noisy or walk around as necessary. The theater also allows people to bring in their own snacks and beverages so that special diets can be accomodated.

I attended one of these this past Saturday. I have one son with cerebral palsy and one with autism. I still take the son with cerebral palsy to regular movie showings, even though he can get loud when he is excited. He's non-verbal, and since he uses a wheelchair he is obviously disabled, so while I would prefer he not shout in the theater, other audience members give him a bit of a pass. It's harder with my son with autism, though. He does not look so obviously disabled, but he is also loud sometimes, and he also ocassionally jumps up and down or rocks violently in his chair, which is disconcerting to others, especially now that he is larger than I am. So we had pretty much stopped taking him to theaters.

But Saturday, it didn't matter! Everyone in the audience knew what was going on , and was probably sitting next to their own child who was doing something "weird." One little boy was wandering the aisles examining people's watches. Another ran around and around the front section of seats for most of the movie. I saw people escorting special needs audience members from toddler age to up into their twenties.

The experience was so wonderful, and I will definitely be going everytime they have one. I think our local AMC is planning to do this monthly. It was great because both my sons enjoyed themsleves immensely - without me constantly trying to shush them - and because so many other parents were able to do something fun for their kids without being stressed about their behavior, which means the kids didn't have to stress either.

Support AMC. They are good corporate citizens.