\u201capproximately 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally.\u201d<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0For a disease that affects so many, one would hope that there would be more acceptance of the disorder and those who live with it.\u00a0 The unfortunate reality is that many, if not most, people living with epilepsy feel compelled to hide their struggle with the disease for fear of being ostracized.\u00a0 The title \u201cepileptic\u201d has always been a pejorative one; the lack of positive epileptic role models in the entertainment industry only perpetuates this situation.\u00a0 If the manner in which epilepsy was depicted was less alarmist and more authentic, many people who currently misunderstand and fear the disease would benefit, as well as those who suffer with it in silence.\u00a0 The compulsion for those with epilepsy to conceal their difficulties would be greatly alleviated with the knowledge that the general population would not laugh at them or find them \u201cscary\u201d or \u201cfreakish.\u201d<\/p>\nIn addition to these stereotypes, the few depictions of epilepsy that exist in media are often limited. Any seizures that appear are generally shown as grand mal seizures.\u00a0 This is only one category of seizure type, and while it is, of course, the scariest and most shocking to watch, it would be helpful if other seizure types were highlighted: absence seizures, complex partial seizures, and myoclonic seizures are only three examples of other types of seizures.\u00a0 If audiences could witness various seizure types along with their presentation and respective necessary interventions, it would go a long way toward demystifying the disease and removing some of the fear borne out of the ignorance surrounding epilepsy.<\/p>\n
In the past, The American Diabetes Association created widespread educational campaigns which have been beneficial to those with diabetes; several other conditions have also benefited from this kind of awareness. Such a campaign for people with epilepsy would be invaluable, as many people with epilepsy now feel pressured to conceal their disease at all costs.<\/p>\n
If formal audience education is not possible, storylines involving characters that successfully manage their epilepsy would begin to change the widespread stereotypes.\u00a0 Especially in younger audiences, it would remove some of the stigma associated with epilepsy and introduce a favorable example of what an \u201cepileptic\u201d is.\u00a0 It would also benefit the epileptic community if the inclination to associate the disease with demonic possession was limited.\u00a0 To perpetuate the myth that epilepsy is caused by a demonic presence wreaking havoc with someone\u2019s body only adds fuel to the notion that these patients are somehow \u201cevil\u201d or \u201cdefective.\u201d\u00a0 These implications, though they may never be candidly discussed, cause many people with epilepsy to feel inferior and condemned by society.<\/p>\n
The entertainment industry must allow their depictions of epileptics to catch up with modern medicine, instead of disseminating ancient beliefs and clich\u00e9s for the sake of drama.\u00a0 The influence these writers, directors, and producers hold is enormous; many members of the general population will never have any kind of firsthand experience with seizures and will garner their opinions from these books and films, perpetuating the lack of awareness even further.\u00a0 Accurate portrayals of epilepsy in popular media are crucial for the ignorance and disgrace to stop.\u00a0 The removal of seizure disorders as a source of comedic entertainment and horror fodder is also key to encouraging universal acceptance and empathy for the disease.\u00a0 Efforts to erase the stigmas associated with other disabilities through more respectful media portrayals exist, and I\u2019d love to see a campaign pushing for the same with portrayals of epilepsy. It\u2019s time for the entertainment industry to aid in changing our collective minds about epilepsy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Authors must allow their depictions of epileptics to catch up with modern medicine, instead of disseminating ancient beliefs and clich\u00e9s for the sake of drama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":2967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"genre":[29],"age_category":[],"disability":[93],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"age_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age_category?post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"disability","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disabilityinkidlit.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disability?post=2965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}