The mum of a five-year-old boy with autism has told how her son suffered a meltdown after being forced out of a cinema.
Vicky Page says she was forced to leave a screening of Dumbo. It followed a woman complaining about her son Noah’s excitement, which made him start jumping.
Vicky Page, who says she was forced from a cinema with her son when he got excited watching Dumbo
Page, from Faversham in Kent, said the woman was giving her filthy looks and told her she should keep her son at home if he could not stay still.
Elated by flying elephant
Noah was elated at seeing the Disney elephant fly during the family day out with sister Daisy, nine, and brother Isaac, 10.
In the end Page, 36, left. However, Noah had a meltdown on the way out of the Royal Cinema, in Kent. It saw him headbutting the floor.
Page, who works with learning disabled adults, said the incident happened “only because he was jumping and was very excited”.
Cinema screenings six months old
The mum has considered autism-friendly screenings, but films can be up to six months old before they have specialist airings.
Page says she has to consider her other children, who prefer watching films when they are first screened.
Incidents involving people with autism forced from public settings made headlines several times last year.
Martin Boniface’s severely learning disabled son Harry was asked to leave the Swan Theatre, in Worcester, for making too much noise last April.
Laughing loudly
Around the same time Tamsin Parker, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was dragged out of a screening of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in London, after laughing loudly.
And Grace Currie, who suffered a brain injury eight years ago, was escorted out of The Shrewsbury Hotel by bouncers after they mistook her disability for drunkenness.
Related:
- Ghetto claim for autism-friendly events
- Meltdown tracker
- Dimensions helps people with autism to belong
- Liverpool leads autism-friendly cities
- Disney’s The Lion King relaxed performances in London, Bristol and Edinburgh
Published: 29 April 2019
