Several Common Non-Medical Problems Associated with Epilepsy
Public misunderstanding about seizures and epilepsy is a tremendous barrier, which limits opportunities and denies families of the services they are entitled to receive.
- For example, unemployment and under-employment are the biggest non-medical problems for people with epilepsy.
It appears that individuals with epilepsy have twice the unemployment rate of the general population, and 40% of employed persons with epilepsy work at jobs requiring less skill than their potential.
- The lack of understanding and acceptance at school is another major source of problems for families.
Some teachers may not want to have a child with seizures in the classroom. They may not want to be responsible for seeing that the child gets his epilepsy medication, and may not know how to respond to a seizure when it occurs.
Private schools may refuse to accept students with the disorder for fear that they might "upset" the other students.
- Discrimination occurs in child custody and adoption cases.
Judges sometimes rule against giving child custody to a mother or to a father because the parent has epilepsy.
Agencies may refuse adoption if the potential adoptive parent has epilepsy.
Source: Epilepsy Foundation of America