Things to do

Seeing a film on the big screen is one of life's great pleasures. Many cinemas now also run autism-friendly screenings where they lower sound levels and you are free to move around.

Hints and tips

• When booking, say you are bringing someone who is autistic. If your child will need time away from the film during the screening, ask for an aisle seat.
• If your child needs to use a phone or tablet to play games to help them focus or to keep calm, check if this is allowed before booking.
• Ask if there is a quiet area at the cinema that you can use if necessary.
• Find out if you can use your child’s CEA card to get your ticket for free.

On the day:

• Bring your child’s sensory aids such as ear defenders, or quiet fiddle toys if they will need them.
• If you have an? autism awareness card, take it with you so you can tell people your child is autistic, if you need to
• Leave plenty of time between arriving at the cinema and the film so your child can adjust to the new environment.
• Talk to an usher about when the noisy and quiet parts of the film are. They can advise you when you might want to go out, and how to leave or return without disrupting others.
• At the end, sit in your seats until most people have gone so it is quieter.

Autism-friendly screenings

Some autism friendly adjustments include:

• No trailers
• The lights and volume are turned down.
• You can sit where you want and move around.
• You can take your own food and drink.
• Staff are trained in autism understanding.
• Carers can get free entry with a valid CEA Card.
• Check the Dimensions website to find the nearest cinema in the scheme.

The CEA Card gives a disabled cinema guest a free ticket for someone to attend with them when they visit a participating cinema.

Theatre Royal Stratford East

Access - Stratford East includes relaxed performances.

For more details, call 020 8534 0310 or email afrost@stratfordeast.com.

Chickenshed

Chickenshed has four Children’s theatre groups and two Youth theatre groups for young people aged 5 to 21 years. They run Saturday and holiday workshops for children aged 5 to 12, and performance and singing workshops for adults.

For more details, call 020 8292 9222 or email info@chickenshed.org.uk.

Graeae

Graeae is a pioneering theatre company that has put Deaf and disabled performers centre stage for four decades.

For more details, call 0207 613 6900 or email info@graeae.org.

Many theatres in London offer the following:

• Relaxed performances
• Captioned performances
• BSL performances
• Audio Described performances
• Autism-Friendly performances
• Touch tours

Details of accessible performances are on the official London Theatre website.