Breast Cancer overfunded tagged posts

Ten-year-old Sadie Fenton Hunt (1) has “West Syndrome,” a rare form of epilepsy that requires a special bed because she often bangs her head against the wall when she has a night seizure (ibid). The special bed was supplied to her by England’s National Health Service when the young girl and her mother were living in Northumberland, England. Because Sadie cannot speak or communicate effectively, that bed was considered a safety necessity in the Hunt household (2).

Earlier this year, Sadie and her mom, Effie, moved to Chesser, a town near Edinburgh, Scotland, to be closer to Effie’s mother. Edinburgh is only 78 miles from Northumberland (3) and is still covered by their NHS service...

I had an interesting conversation the other day with my sister-in-law, Ali. She is a “care-giver” in England and she is a regular reader of my blog. She asked, “Why do you always refer to yourself as ‘epileptic?’ You are not epileptic. You have seizures.”

I should point out that Ali has been trained by the English “ETTAD,” or European project to Enable Teachers and Trainers. Their website (1) states “Terminology is important, because words reflect our attitudes and beliefs.” It goes on to state that, “It is dehumanizing to talk of people in terms of a condition. Do not talk about a dyslexic or an epileptic – it is far preferable to say he has dyslexia/ she has epilepsy. (Ibid.)”

It’s a fair point, although, presumably, none of these people are actually living...

I have written several articles about people being fired or arrested while having seizures. As a result, I have received several emails from readers and close friends asking: “How can it be legal in the United States of America to fire someone for epilepsy?”

It isn’t. But up until very recently it was. Here’s how it came to happen.

In 1924 sterilizing epileptics was all the rage. Three thousand people were involuntarily sterilized in the United States — 2,500 in California alone (1) based on a system designed by one Harry Laughlin. In a continued effort to get rid of “defective persons,” Virginia sought to follow California’s lead and a seventeen-year-old girl named Carrie Buck was chosen to be the first citizen of that state to be sterilized under the program.

Witness...

I was recently banned from posting on Reddit. I am not sure exactly what I did to get banned (although it was insinuated that my blog about “Breast Cancer Month” did not go down well with some people.) Bear in mind, this is a website that is fond of holocaust deniers, sexists and racists. But me? I am not allowed to post anything there anymore. Not even a comment on someone else’s thread. Not even a simple “Hey that was great.” My emails to moderators go unanswered.

My website still seems to be relatively popular on Reddit — for an epilepsy website. As you might expect, epilepsy is not a particularly “big market.” But if you go to r/epilepsy, “FallingDownFunny” is the website that gets the most attention. But that doesn’t seem to matter to the folks who run Reddit...

Let me start by saying that breast cancer is a horrible disease and I feel badly for anyone who has it or gets it. I wrote that headline to get your attention. But I do have a reason for starting to turn on “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” and I know I am not alone.

I have epilepsy. I have been trying to promote epilepsy awareness for some time and it often feels like an uphill battle. Not only do people not really seem to care about epilepsy, but quite the opposite: many seem to have something against it.

I am not going to go into the recent story of Coach Jerry Kill, the University of Minnesota football coach who had a seizure during a game and was rewarded with calls for his removal...