In 2015 Disabled Access Day, 16 March, began as a day to celebrate good access and to create opportunities for people to try something new. The day was very much about highlighting the fantastic access that already exists in places, experiences such as going on a touch tour, enjoying a relaxed performance, sensory experiences, signed events, level access and of course a warm welcome! Often these activities and experiences are hard to arrange or create a sense of anxiety and fear.
Cinemas across the country offer access for people who may have visible or hidden disabilities, as well as offering specific accessible screenings, such as subtitled, audio described, BSL interpreted, relaxed environment, autism-friendly, and/or dementia-friendly screenings.
Your Local Cinema lists many subtitled and audio-described screenings
Accessible Screenings UK also list autism-friendly, subtitled and audio-described screenings
Michelle is the Involvement and Engagement Coordinator for Dimensions, an Autism Ambassador and mum to three autistic children. She does a lot to improve understanding and opportunities so she was asked to write a blog for World Autism Awareness Day.
Many cinemas across the country offer relaxed environment or autism-friendly screenings, with adaptations to make the space more comfortable and accessible for autistic people to enjoy film as individuals or with their families.
Organisations such as the UK Cinema Association, Dimensions, National Autistic Society and BFI FAN have worked with cinemas to support them in welcoming autistic audiences.
We have provided some training resources and information on this page to help you host Relaxed Screenings in your venue.
Cinema and film can be an inspiring and powerful tool for representation and developing awareness projects. Find some inspiration on this page about previous and existing projects, films, or information for further research and planning ideas.
Five documentaries that have helped to move the conversation about mental health forward, and have allowed viewers to gain greater insight into certain conditions through the personal experiences of others. Some of these documentaries feature famous faces, and some focus on the lives of those outside the public eye, but each film has its own … More
Project overview TAPE is a community arts charity which specialises in presenting inclusive opportunities for people of all ages. Along with a timetable of weekly projects and clubs, TAPE works through film production and screening to support people from across the community to engage, socialise, learn, train and find employment and opportunities. For over 10 … More
Project overview We offer fortnightly screenings which are branded as “relaxed” as part of our cinema programme. The films selected are usually new releases which are also screening at other times. The relaxed screenings involve certain modifications in terms of presentation (raised light level, lower sound, no ads or trailers) and we make the space … More
This is a guide for incorporating film into Special Educational Need (SEN) experiences.
Arts Council Wales have put together an equality guide to give practical ideas about diversity for both those who work in the arts and those who experience the arts.
This resource looks at the usage of language and etiquette around the area of disability.
AccessAble (formerly known as Disability Go) create Accessibility Guides. These are a result of an assessment with 125,000 venues individually surveyed and kept up to date. These guides are revisited once every 12 months to reassess any changes. The process is as below:
• Accessibility Guides are created following a detailed survey of each venue
o This ensures the information matches the same level of detail and consistency across all our 125,000 different Guides with over 1,000 pieces of information per venue
• Following the survey, the information is then collated and assembled within an Accessibility Guide template specific for that type of venue
o The templates have been developed continuously over our last 17 years engagement with over 1,600 different disability groups
• There is also produce an internal analysis report which contrasts the surveyors information against national best practice (BS8300:2017)
o This enables you to understand how you can make improvements in a structured approach over time, based on an independent assessment
• The Accessibility Guide is then available on the AccessAble website and also via our mobile app but also as a direct link within another website
o More than 1.7 million different people have used our Accessibility Guides in the last 12 months
• AccessAble will remain in contact throughout the year to make sure the Guide is kept up to date and AccessAble will arrange for our surveyors to return to survey any structural changes in 12 months
o Accuracy is incredibly important, all Accessibility Guides on AccessAble are accurate within a 12 month period.
An example of a Guide for a cinema is here: Stratford East AccessAble Picturehouse Guide.
Here is a document written by AccessAble on the AccessAble guides.
