My name is Lauren and I am a Young Rep at Young Epilepsy. I am writing this post to share my my experience of acting whilst being an epileptic. I also hope to inspire other young people with epilepsy or a disability to show that they shouldn’t give up on something that they love.
It is difficult being an actor with epilepsy, for me, my memory was my biggest worry when I started doing drama in school. I used to become very upset because I love being creative and I felt that my memory was the one thing that was getting in the way of me having fun and being able to participate in plays and shows. I was constantly in denial of my epilepsy and acting. I never thought it would come back, but it did and I had to get used to that .When I was finishing my performing arts course at college, my tutor advised me to not move onto the Acting Level 2 course because she thought that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. It knocked my confidence and became very close to giving up on acting altogether.
I did want to pursue acting alongside my other main college course because I just adore that thrill of creating new characters, working with other people, filming a scene, writing monologues or just simply improvising. I still act now and I am in an adult group alongside attending college. It’s so nice to look back on my journey. I just decided to take in my college tutor’s words and I went to pursue acting somewhere else. I’m glad that I found another group to be a part of. They are all amazing and I have made friends for life. The tutors who have taught me have really believed in me and pushed me to a point where I can say: ‘I did that today.’ I have been lucky enough to even perform on stage which I never thought I would do. I’ve worked with lots of other young people and it’s so fun. Watching movies and tv shows have really helped me as I used to stand in front of the tv and act out scenes when I was younger. Creative writing has also helped me as I managed to write and perform a self-written monologue. Going through that process was very therapeutic. Just being able to tell a bit of my story was such a good thing.
I would like other young people who love being creative to know that YOU CAN DO IT! Never give up on something that you love. I am very proud of myself for not giving up. I always think of acting like a bug. Once I started it in school, I loved it. The ‘bug’ just bit me and now I am obsessed! Acting has also made me much more confident as a person and now I’m very accepting of both my epilepsy and physical disability. I used to look at constructive criticism as just ‘criticism’ and the feedback from drama tutors would hurt my feelings. But as I have continued with it, I have realised that their advice and words of encouragement have helped and shaped me into a better actor. I have learnt so much and it has made me become much more open as I was the opposite before. Talking about my epilepsy and acting was a bit weird at first but being more open about it has worked for me.
If you want to act or start being creative, just keep trying. I know exactly how hard it is, but I am learning to stay positive and continue to not give up on something that I love.
You can do anything. I believe in that. And if you meet new people from it, that’s a blessing. It is a difficult road but keep having faith in because once you know that you’re able to do something, nothing can stop you then.
"Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances."Sanford Meisner
