Humanity today is regressing. Our views of the world are more limited than ever. Although new technologies to connect each other emerge every year and every day, our minds are more closed.
We live in a world that punishes those who are different. A person with epilepsy is brought under the microscope, but the lenses are never changed. Our views of those with epilepsy are blurred by opinions from the past.
We live in a world that punishes those who are different. A person with epilepsy often hides his/her condition from friends and colleagues in hope to not be treated differently. The “white-glove” treatment is like pity thrown in our eyes.
We live in a world that punishes those who are different. A person with epilepsy is tired of hearing “isn’t that a mental disease” or “can you go to school with that“. Yes, we can go to school and yes, we can have great grades, sometimes better than everybody else. Yes, we can work and achieve performance and have great jobs. Just look at Van Gogh, Neil Young, Edgar Allan Poe, Dostoevsky, Theodore Roosevelt and Caligula.
We live in a world that punishes those who are different. A person with epilepsy is protected from discrimination by law, but even the law sometimes discriminates. The law sets boundaries for us. Yes, I understand that we cannot hold a driving license, we cannot be airplane pilots because of the danger that would mean to ourselves and others. But those boundaries sometimes limit our freedom of speech, of movement, of everything.
I do not see epilepsy as a disorder that limits our power of thought, our freedom in any way possible, our views of the world. I see epilepsy as an opportunity to learn more, to view the world through different lenses that few have access to.
Yes, epilepsy is a disorder, not a disease.
Dealing with epilepsy 