Why Going to the Movies Is Stressful as Someone With Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy
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
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 it’s triggered by my epilepsy. It shakes and moves around and I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t 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.
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.
Getty image by Anton Ostapenko.
Tylia L. Flores is a twenty-eight-year-old born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Despite her condition that affects her mobility, she does not allow it to affect her will and determination to make a difference in the world. Through her many life challenges and obstacles, she discovered her passion for writing. Tylia’s goal in life is to share her stories with the world. In doing so, she hopes to help others with disabilities realize that they, too, have the potential to make their dreams come true. Tylia is not only an author. She’s a radio show personality and a disability activist. Tylia has written about disability-related topics for Yahoo Life, Your Tango, The Mighty, ReadUnwritten.com, Words Between Coasts Project, Wednesday, Spilwords, and Goble Thrive. Worth Living Among her other appearances are Disability on the Spectrum and Why I was Afraid of Sexuality. Previously, Tylia was nominated to Diversabilities list of the most influential Disability Impacts of 2022. Additionally, Tylia holds the position of chairman in the creative director role for the North American Association Of Cerebral Palsy Advocates. She serves as a mentor for the Disability EmpowHer Network as well. Tylia also works for Write It Up Publishing as a sensitivity reader focusing on disability representation. Tylia has also been involved in many movie press releases for Samuel Goldwyn Films Come as you are Piece of me which was the short film directed and written by award winning filmmaker Bruna Cabral as well as the film adaptation of the book Calvin can’t fly by Jenifer Burnes Tylia is also a keynote speaker at 2020’s Cerebral Palsy Awareness conference. She has also been a guest speaker at Northeastern State University Broken Arrow where she talks to college students about disability and inclusion in education. She has also been a guest speaker at Plantation Middle School, where she discussed inclusion and disability with classmates. Tylia is fully certified in Education for All: Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion through Cape Town University. She’s also certified in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion through Purdue University. She’s also certified in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Tylia hosts the Stomping On cerebral Palsy radio show with DJ Ty on Asheville FM with DJ Mouse during the Come On In the Kitchen segment once a month she also helps the staff behind the scenes, help bring awareness to disability awareness and inclusion within the radio broadcasting industry .
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