Young man helps children with additional needs enjoy cinema

Serennu Children’s Centre in Newport, a purpose-built centre where children with disabilities can access health and social care alongside leisure activities, has an in-house cinema run by the charity MediCinema.

It currently shows 2D and 3D films three times a week and seats more than 50 people, It has been designed for children and young people with disabilities and/or developmental difficulties.

Jon Jones, 21, from Newport, attended Serennu as a child for medical appointments and leisure activities. Jon has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and was a regular visitor to MediCinema.

Jon Jones

Jon is now employed by MediCinema, running screenings at Serennu Children’s Centre.

He said: “I think it really helps that I was a young person myself who attended the centre and I experienced first-hand what it does and what challenges there are.

“I want to make sure that this is a place where we can relieve people’s anxieties and everyone feels comfortable watching a fantastic film with their families and friends, because that’s what I used to do and it made such a big difference to me.”

MediCinema COO Paul Giggal said: “We are incredibly lucky to have Jon on board as part of the team. He is an amazing young man bringing empathy, brightness and such a warm welcome to everyone who comes to the MediCinema. It is a powerful thing for the children to see Jon in his new position and doing such a great job; he really is an extraordinarily inspirational young man.”

In his new role, Jon helps children with disabilities and their families to access leisure activities that any other family is able to access, children such as Lexy, age six.

Lexy, age six, accessing MediCinema at Serennu Children’s Centre

Lexy’s mum, Siobhan, said: “Lexy was diagnosed as disabled when she was 18 months old. Some people don’t really understand children with hidden disabilities. They associate disability with being in a wheelchair, not being able to do anything for yourself, so it can be really hard for people to understand the struggles Lexy has on a daily basis and that not all disabilities are visible.

“When my eldest, Wyatt, was little, I would take him to the kids’ screenings at the cinema on a Saturday. With Lexy, I can’t do anything like that. I just know she wouldn’t be able to cope with it. It means that we can’t do normal things together like other families might do.”

Siobhan recalled the family’s first trip to MediCinema: “I was overthinking it all, asking myself ‘I know it’s a service for children with additional needs, but do the staff really know what she’ll be like?’ But then we made the decision to go, and that was it.

“When we arrived, I watched Lexy walking in, her happy self. The staff were so genuine, so welcoming, and no-one was looking down their nose at her. Even with the added worry about Covid, everything was handled so well, and we felt so safe.

Jon Jones attending MediCinema at Serennu, age 16

"And when the film came on, I didn’t watch it – I just watched Lexy. She was up and dancing whenever a song came on, laughing and enjoying herself. And if she needed a little break, she would just rest on the floor and we didn’t have to worry. I could have burst into tears. I was looking at her thinking: ‘She can just be herself.’

“I remember posting online about it afterwards and how someone commented saying that I could have watched it at home on my TV. But for us, it’s not about just watching a film; it’s about the whole experience. It’s about being able to have a normal life. It might seem an exaggeration, but it’s really not – to go out together, to be relaxed and to enjoy ourselves; it’s things like that that people take for granted.”

MediCinema builds and runs state-of-the-art cinemas in hospitals and other care settings, such as Serennu, improving the wellbeing and quality of life of NHS patients and their families through the power of the shared cinema experience and the magic of film.

Sparkle delivers specialist leisure activities for children and young people with disabilities and/or developmental difficulties from Serennu Children’s Centre and other locations across Gwent. Sparkle receives funding towards the MediCinema screenings at Serennu, and related staffing costs, from Postcode Community Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

To find out more about Sparkle services and how to access them go to www.sparkleappeal.org/