November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month!
Approximately 2.3 million Americans have some form of Epilepsy, but since that's not an accurate number, it could be as high as 12 million because people are still afraid of being labeled "disabled" and Epilepsy has a stigma.
However, despite 40% of those with Epilepsy dying from it, many have/had successful lives, like:
Lindsey Buckingham
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Danny Glover
Edward Lear
Prince
Harriet Tubman
Hugo Weaving
Neil Young
The direct and indirect costs of Epilepsy are estimated by the CDC to be 15.5 billion dollars per year for the United States. In comparison, those costs for breast cancer are 5.49 billion annually.
These links have some excellent information to find out more, especially about working with Epilepsy and how to react to someone with Epilepsy:
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/getinvolved/neam/index.cfmhttp://www.eeoc.gov/facts/epilepsy.htmlMost of all, I wish Epileptics could be treated "normal" rather than being met with pity or confusion. People seem to assume you'll have a seizure at any moment. the majority of Epileptics have our seizures under control. It doesn't mean it isn't a possibility but it's very, very unlikely. What we'd like most is to just act like you would with anyone else but be understanding that we might need special accommodations like being able to write down instructions, breaks to take our medications on time or not being forced to work around triggers such as pulsating lights. For example, at Universal Studios theme parks, they know they can't schedule epileptic employees to work at Halloween Horror Nights.
We don't like when people act like it's a death sentence or we're messed up in some way since we've thought a lot about both. Most of us like to be positive about our condition. For example, Lauren Axelrod, suffered permanent brain damage before her seizures came under control so she's unable to live by herself but she lives in a care facility where she has her own apartment and is enjoying painting. Her story is here:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/11/23/david-axelrods-long-standing-fight-epilepsy/![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
