Can you teach with epilepsy?

Can you teach with epilepsy? I suppose the short answer is yes. There are, however, a few things you need to consider before starting your teaching journey.  

How often do you have seizures? 

I am a prime example that you can have seizures and still teach. There is a common misconception that you must be completely seizure free to teach. This is not true. You do, however, need to consider how often you experience seizures, your recovery time and the impact seizures have on you when deciding if now is the right time to embark on a teaching career. Only you can decide if the frequency of your seizures and the impact they have on your ability to function is manageable. If you experience seizures every day or numerous times a day it might be difficult to both train to be a teacher and also to teach, particularly if you have a long recovery time. It is important to remember though that even if you decide right now is not the time to embark on teacher training, that doesn’t mean the time will never be right.  

Your triggers. 

This may not be something you would think to consider but it is probably one of the most important considerations. As much as I love teaching it is a stressful job. There is so much more to teaching than just delivering lessons. Marking, paperwork, meetings, planning, tracking, the general politics of teaching make up the biggest part of your teaching day. If stress is a significant trigger for your seizures, you need to consider the teacher workload and if this will cause an increase in your seizures. Your health is far more important than your career, as difficult as that may be to accept. If stress is a big trigger for you it doesn’t mean you can’t teach, it may just mean you work part-time or job-share to lessen the load.  

Travel 

Depending on where you live and the frequency of your seizures you may not even need to worry about travelling to and from work. If, however, you are not able to drive due to seizures you do need to consider how you are going to get to and from work. If you have had your driving license medically revoked, you are entitled to a free bus pass and can also get a disabled persons railcard which entitles you to 1/3 off train tickets. I have a railcard and it now works out cheaper for me to get the train than it would to drive and pay for parking.  

Openness. 

Finally, you need to consider how open you are about your epilepsy. It goes without saying you must inform your employer about your epilepsy and should also ensure a risk assessment is put in place. You also need to consider how open you are about sharing this information with other members of staff and even those you are teaching. The more people that know the easier it is to manage in my opinion, particularly if you still experience seizures. How much you share with those you teach depends on the age range you teach. The older the learners are the easier it is to share the information and, in my experience, the more understanding they are. Epilepsy is nothing to be embarrassed about. Sharing your experiences and discussing your epilepsy with learners helps raise more awareness.  

There we have it. A few things to consider before starting a career in teaching. It is important to remember that epilepsy does not make you incapable of achieving your dreams, you may need to go about them a different way, but you can still make them happen. Epilepsy does not define you.