Tuesday, 27 March 2018

Wonder The Movie DVD (ad)

Stephs Two Girls March 27, 2018 ASD, autism, Kleenex, Pathological Demand Avoidance, PDA, Wonder, Wonder the Movie, World Autism Awareness Week

One of my favourite books of all time is the New York Times Bestseller, Wonder by R.J.Palacio. It's a story of a young boy called August Pullman (Auggie), who was born with a cranio-facial condition called Treacher Collins Syndrome. It focuses on his return to school after having been home educated for some years, and the challenges which that brings.

It's quite rare for me to be able to make it out to the cinema these days, so I was thrilled to be invited to a special screening of the movie ‘Wonder’ which is based on the book. It was being shown in the lovely Soho Hotel, and the event was hosted by Kleenex®. Surely the best partnership idea ever, considering this is a film which will really tug at your heartstrings and takes you through all the emotions?! I know I needed those tissues...

Steph and Tamsin in cinema with Kleenex pack

I was thrilled to be able to take our eldest girl along with me. As we watched the film together, I'm not too proud to admit we held hands and blubbed together. Julia Roberts plays the part of Auggie's Mum brilliantly and a lot of the emotions she experienced would be similar to those of any mum with a child who is different. I think for Tamsin, whose younger sister is autistic, there were also some likenesses to be drawn in the way Auggie's older sister experienced life as a sibling to a child with a difference, and that really hit home for me as I watched her the emotions run over her face during the film.

This movie was both Academy Award®* and BAFTA** nominated and was released on DVD yesterday (26th
March), so if you haven't had chance to see it yet, I definitely recommend buying it and I'd suggest stocking up on the Kleenex® while you're at it! Check out the short video below and you might just spot someone you know in it....

Wonder wasn't based on a true story, but it was inspired by real life events. The mum who wrote it had experienced an occasion where her young son was frightened when sitting next to a child with a different kind of face. She left the ice cream shop they were in abruptly, but later wished she had just spoken to the child as she might have done any other, in order to show her boy that there was nothing to stare at or be scared of.

Sadly we humans are not explicitly taught how to react when we see something which is different. One mum who could teach us all a lot about this is the fabulous Charlie who writes her own blog over at Our Altered Life. Charlie has two boys, and one of them was born with Goldenhar Syndrome. Charlie has now created a charity called More Than A Face, to support her providing workshops to high schools to help children understand facial disfigurement better. If you go and visit her blog you can see what she made of the film Wonder, and how close to home it was for her.

Charlie's son is also diagnosed with autism, and so all this week she will be sharing posts related to autism over on her Our Altered Life Facebook page. As this is officially World Autism Awareness Week, why not pop along to learn something new?

I think there are a couple of highlights which jump out at me from this movie Wonder; the idea that you can't blend in when you were born to stand out, and the #ChooseKind motto which is one of my favourites. We can all make an effort to show more compassion and acceptance to those who are different.

Disclosure: we were gifted tickets for this special screening but all thoughts and opinions in this post are our own.

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