Historical Issues Epilepsy has been one of the most stigmatizing diseases. Mikhailove, Wasserman & Sinyakova (2004) state, “The Romans considered a person with epilepsy "unclean" or implicated in dishonest deeds. People were encouraged not to touch an epileptic, and the only adopted method of infection prophylaxis in the presence of an epileptic was to spit, which was believed to help spit out the infection floating in the air in the form of a demon. When an epileptic appeared, everybody stared spitting, hence the Roman name for epilepsy - "the spit-out disease.” Many people consider epilepsy the devil disease, in previous times, people thought those who had epilepsy were possessed by a demonic force. This however is not the case, but the
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Multiple research studies have been done. Libby, Ghushchyan, Mcqueen, Slejko, Bainbridge, & Campbell (2012) research states, “People with epilepsy were similar to those without epilepsy, but differed in that people with epilepsy were married less often than people with no epilepsy (32.9% vs. 41.2%); were more often diagnosed with anxiety (10.2% vs. 4.4%) and depression (17.9% vs. 6.6%); and were covered by public insurance more often (36.03% vs. 17.8%) than by private insurance (53.8% vs. 70.0).“ While Research done by Sridharan (2002), states those suffering from Epilepsy have “poor schooling, are unemployed or unmarried.” Sridharan also did a community survey which provided results from individuals that had stated “40% of individuals felt that persons with epilepsy cannot be properly educated or employed and 11% would object to their children having contact with children with Epilepsy” (Sridharan, 2002, p. 669). This causes a social justice issue because there is a stigma against those with Epilepsy as most people assume they have uncontrollable seizures at any given time, and it’s a frightening experience. The stigma surrounding epilepsy and the quote provided above would cause issues in those seeking employment, as employers would be nervous about hiring those with epilepsy as it could be a liability to the company if the employee were to have a seizure and end up hurting themselves. Not being able to seek employment causes a huge social justice issue, as if one has a disease, they need healthcare to get their disease under control. When an individual does not have a job, they are unable to afford health care to keep their epileptic seizures under control. This results in the possibility of relying on welfare checks in to survive everyday
Multiple research studies have been done. Libby, Ghushchyan, Mcqueen, Slejko, Bainbridge, & Campbell (2012) research states, “People with epilepsy were similar to those without epilepsy, but differed in that people with epilepsy were married less often than people with no epilepsy (32.9% vs. 41.2%); were more often diagnosed with anxiety (10.2% vs. 4.4%) and depression (17.9% vs. 6.6%); and were covered by public insurance more often (36.03% vs. 17.8%) than by private insurance (53.8% vs. 70.0).“ While Research done by Sridharan (2002), states those suffering from Epilepsy have “poor schooling, are unemployed or unmarried.” Sridharan also did a community survey which provided results from individuals that had stated “40% of individuals felt that persons with epilepsy cannot be properly educated or employed and 11% would object to their children having contact with children with Epilepsy” (Sridharan, 2002, p. 669). This causes a social justice issue because there is a stigma against those with Epilepsy as most people assume they have uncontrollable seizures at any given time, and it’s a frightening experience. The stigma surrounding epilepsy and the quote provided above would cause issues in those seeking employment, as employers would be nervous about hiring those with epilepsy as it could be a liability to the company if the employee were to have a seizure and end up hurting themselves. Not being able to seek employment causes a huge social justice issue, as if one has a disease, they need healthcare to get their disease under control. When an individual does not have a job, they are unable to afford health care to keep their epileptic seizures under control. This results in the possibility of relying on welfare checks in to survive everyday