Why Going to the Movies Is Stressful as Someone With Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy – Yahoo Lifestyle

Like many people, I have always enjoyed going to the movies with my friends and family. My favorite types of movies to see are comedies and films based on true stories. However, due to my cerebral palsy and my mild form of epilepsy, I also dread going to the movie theater because of how it can affect both of these conditions.

Due to having spastic cerebral palsy, I tend not to do so well with loud noises and screaming they make me jump. The flashing lights and fast-moving colors are not good for people with epilepsy. As a result, whenever I go to the cinema I have to worry about what may happen if the movie has a scene where there are a lot of flashing lights or moving colors, or if it has loud noises that could make me jump and cause other moviegoers to stare at me.

Dealing with self-consciousness

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Each of these disabilities impacts my life in different ways, and sometimes it makes me very cautious about going out to certain places because of the responses I get from the people around me. My body has a mind of its own, and can get out of control when its triggered by my epilepsy. It shakes and moves around and I have no idea whats going on. I dont know if there will ever be a time where I can go to the theater and be comfortable enough to enjoy a movie without a single worry.

How movies could be made epilepsy-friendly

It would be nice to be able to enjoy more movies without having to be cautious about them having flashing lights or loud noises. This could be made possible if filmmakers gained more awareness about epilepsy and other conditions. Do they really need all those flashing lights? Having some kind of warning notice before seizure-triggering scenes in a movie, not just at the beginning would help too. This would mean people like me could enjoy films and head out to the theater more often.

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Until filmmakers make efforts to change this, I will continue to go to the cinema and watch brand new movies because I refuse to miss out on things everyone should be able to enjoy. But someday I hope it will be a less stressful experience.

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Why Going to the Movies Is Stressful as Someone With Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy - Yahoo Lifestyle