Ellie Harrison
Artistic Director of The Grief Series
BA Acting, 2006
Just stick at it. Just do the next thing. Baby steps. All of the people I admire just refused to go away
Ellie shares some advice about the barriers to working in the creative industries when having invisible disabilities:
"Having an invisible disability is complex. It comes with its own privilege but people make assumptions that everyone they encounter is able bodied and even when you tell people, it can be easy for organisations to forget without a visual reminder. I would say there are also more insidious barriers around a working culture of long hours and unpaid work which just isn't viable for people with caring responsibilities and/or disabilities.
The pastoral support of staff was the thing that kept me going when I didn't have parents to help fuel that self belief. My course definitely prepared me to solve my own problems creatively but I wish we'd had a 'being self employed 101' module where you learn about how to send an invoice or how to apply for arts funding. My advice to my former self would be to make friends with an Excel spreadsheet and learn how to budget. And to resist the culture of free work for organisations that should be paying you."