ATTITUDE TO EPILEPTICS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29265, 25 July 1960, Page 14

ATTITUDE TO EPILEPTICS

Public Prejudice Deplored

(hew Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 24.

A person suffering from epilepsy was completely normal, apart from his one disability, Miss I. Gairdner, honorary secretary of British Epilepsy Association, said on Saturday when she visited the New Zealand branch hostel tn Horoeka avenue, Mount Eden. She deplored public ignorance and prejudice towards sufferers. Many very prominent men suffered from this malady which affects about one in every 200 persons, she said. Unfortunately most of them were aShamed to come forward and give support to the association.

A businessman fearing that it might damage his business often tried to pass off a At as a “blackout.” 1

Epilepsy was not associated with insanity nor did it cause any deterioration of the brain.

It was, therefore, a tragedy that the only places where the authorities could deal with epileptic cases was in mental hospitals. Epileptics needed a normal environment and placing them among the insane gave them the worst possible atmosphere. Separate accommodation was needed.

Difficult temperament was not a necessary result of epilepsy, but some epileptics might become aggressive because of the constant public prejudice they had to fight. There were the exceptions. Some epileptics were mentally deficient, but this was generally when a brain injury caused both the epilepsy and the mental deficiency. In England there were about 250.000 epileptics, but most of them led normal lives. The association provided hostels for those unable to get accommodation or employment, but it tried to get them back into ordinary hostels and jobs wherever possible. The hostels were originally built when it was believed that nothing could be done for epileptics, but today attacks could be controlled in 95 per cent, of cases. Miss Gairdner will visit associations in Australia and the United States before returning to England..