In late 2015, the performer Emma Selwyn was working in a call centre. It was, she says, a “steady job”, if not a particularly fulfilling one. In fact, she had thoughts of quitting, tempted by the prospect of a diploma for learning disabled and autistic artists. In the end, the decision was taken out of her hands: she was let go while still on her probation, so signed up for the diploma.
It was a series of events she looks back on as a “blessing in disguise”. “In my mind, it was like, ‘What else is there? What have I got to lose now?’” she says. “I went along to one of the auditions and I don’t think I’ve ever really looked back.” For Selwyn, doing the course was “nothing short of transformative”.
