A tradition of special needs excellence, flexible timetables and a holistic approach to staff and student wellbeing suggest FE colleges are among the more supportive workplaces for staff with epilepsy - a condition affecting around one per cent of the population.
What’s it like deciding whether to take up a new job in an environment where your physical safety can depend on the good judgment of your close colleagues and your students? Can a teacher with epilepsy be assured that those around them, both students and staff, know what to expect, what to do and who to call for help if that person ever has an epileptic seizure in their class or elsewhere on campus? What sort of check list should a teacher with epilepsy refer to when researching a potential college employer and then attending interview?
June Massey, a specialist teacher/tutor working with people with disabilities in FE/HE since 1999, knows only too well the problems epilepsy causes as her own son (now 39) has the condition. A long-time volunteer and trustee at the charity, Epilepsy Action, she feels FE colleges, as educational institutions, are generally much better equipped to handle conditions like epilepsy than other workplaces.
Most if not all colleges have a ready-made study support department with qualified support staff working with students with all sorts of disabilities, June says. “Back in the ‘noughties’ I was working at Cambridge Regional College for five years and even then they had a whole team dedicated to providing support.” It’s a far cry from today’s average supermarket, say, which is unlikely to have a staffer on board to deal with customers with disabilities and where health and safety can be quite basic.
It’s up to every college to know who has epilepsy and what their seizures will look like - is it, say, ‘tonic-clonic’ where someone loses consciousness, their muscles stiffen, and they make jerking movements. The seizures usually last one to three minutes and take longer to recover from than, say, a ‘partial’ seizure; that is when a person will remain conscious and aware of their surroundings, although emotions may change rapidly without cause, speech becomes difficult or non-sensical, and/or they start laughing or crying for no apparent reason. Yet another sort is ‘absence’ where a person blanks out or stares into space for a few seconds.
Large institutions like colleges have to ensure their staff are trained in health and safety and would know who to call if someone was having an epileptic seizure. They can do simple things like giving a tutor a pager that they or their students could use if that individual had a seizure - otherwise how would the college immediately know about an emergency and a possibly traumatised class of teenagers also needing support?
“Of course, some people will have an aura and so know they are about to have a seizure and page for help in good time, though that doesn’t happen for everyone,” says June. “That’s why it’s always important for the tutor to give their class an awareness session at the start of term about what to expect and do in a seizure situation. Everyone has a different epilepsy profile - some, for instance, will have a seizure and then carry on immediately; others may need a 30-minute break or more before returning to work …
“Job applicants sometimes need to fill in the gaps about their individual needs at interview to put their future employers fully in the picture. They should not be scared of spelling out their needs and asking what is in place. What no one wants is to leave their students clueless about how to proceed in an emergency.”
The incoming tutor also has to be completely upfront with the college at interview. “If someone has a seizure overnight, their ability to process information might take a dip the next day. So they need to inform their HR department about seizure frequency and timings.
“I knew an accountant who had a seizure every tenth day - it was almost like clockwork - so he simply did not go to work that day as he knew he would be below par. Yes, it was disruptive but he was still able to carry on in his profession.”
Another key question is does your chosen college have a quiet place where a staff member can go to recover and maybe have someone to sit with them?
“It’s all about shared responsibility,” says June. “You don’t want to frighten young people and put them off from helping in the future. How to treat people having a seizure should be part of their learning.”
For a range of training and other resources on epilepsy, including videos, please see Epilepsy Action’s website
AoCJobs, part of the Association of Colleges, connects teachers and support staff with schools and colleges for online job opportunities.