Download SOCIAL ASPECTS

SOCIAL ASPECTS
Further to medical treatment, persons
with epilepsy face stigma,
misunderstandings, labelling and
discrimination
Witnessing a seizure can be devastating
for someone unfamiliar or uninformed.
 Fear
 Superstition
 Misconceptions
continue to influence on societal attitudes
and behaviour towards those having
epilepsy
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Onset of epilepsy in newborn
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Trauma for parents
They are anxious to know how this will effect
their child
Feel sense of helplessness to protect child
from harm
Often times they over-protect their child
Instances where epilepsy is kept as a ‘family
secret’ which in turn increases anxiety
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Impact
on:impact on:
There is an
 Cognitive
 Emotional
development
development
 Psychological
development
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Childhood/School age
Child realises he/she is different
 In certain countries children are not
deemed fit to go to school and they are
denied education.
 Starts to face prejudicial attitudes and
treated differently than peers
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
As a reaction to the attitude around them
children with epilepsy revert to aggression in
order to fight back or else isolate themselves
in order to avoid having to explain what they
are going through and feel safe in their own
company.
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Both scenarios result in the child becoming a
social outcast.
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Undiagnosed absence seizures
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When epilepsy is not as yet diagnosed,
especially in the case of absence
seizures children are often labeled as
being lazy, unresponsive and not
interested.
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Such attitudes provoke havoc in the
child’s emotional development
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Participation
Sometimes adults are reluctant to take
responsibility for children with epilepsy ‘just in
case something happens’ for fear of not
knowing how to manage seizures.
This often happens during outings, sports and
aquatic activities.
Again child is made to feel different and
inadequate.
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Adolescents

Adolescent want to explore, do new things,
experiment and feel free.
 It’s a time when they defy society in order to
assert themselves
 Yet because of epilepsy, they lose friends,
labeled as being drug addicts, left out of
activities.
 They have to struggle more than their peers in
order to attain their goals and objectives
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During this journey the hurt,
discrimination and prejudice effect their
characters.
 This makes it difficult for them to interact
and to approach people.
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Epilepsy commonly effects young people
in the most productive years of their lives
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Building a family
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Legislations in various countries affecting PWE has
reflected centuries of suspicion and misunderstanding
about epilepsy
 Pre-conceptions regarding marriage, sexual function and
relationships
Examples :
 China + India – reason for prohibiting or annulling
marriages
 United Kingdom – law forbidding marriage up to 1970
 U.S.A. – prohibited marriage, last state repealed this law
in 1980. Up to 1956 18 states provided eugenic
sterilisation of PWE. Up to 1970 it was legal to deny
PWE access to public places.
 Parents many times hinder such relationships
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Employment

Economic and financial burdens are not
uncommon to people with epilepsy due
to low education levels therefore they
obtain low paying jobs or are unable to
find employment.
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Many are culturally conditioned to
underrate themselves
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Should they divulge that they have epilepsy?
 Research shows that many times it can
prove to be a disadvantage
 Even though there is legislation against
discrimination re disability, employers still
find a way to be negatively selective.
 Denied promotions or pay rises
 Difficult to prove malpractices
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Senior years
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Ailing health, mood swings
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Life long side effects of anti epileptic drugs
are more accentuated
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Underlying attitude that epilepsy is at the
core of things going wrong
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Conclusion
Education is the ultimate solution
 Direct contact with persons having
epilepsy helps people to look at them as
individuals and not as people having a
condition
 Teaching First Aid helps to eradicate the
fear of the unknown and empowers people
to manage seizures
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THANK YOU