Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Writing: What Are We Trying To Say?

Over the years, I have been fascinated by the numbers of persons with E. who write. Historically, many of my favorite authors were persons with E... But, I wonder what we are all trying to say?

Could it be that we are attempting to work out our feelings of isolation through the stuff we put to paper? Are we trying to work up the courage to self-identify as epileptics to a broader world?

I don't know for sure. But I suspect that for many of us, each of these are possibilities. Then too there is the notion that we may be trying to convince ourselves and others of our intelligence. After all, there are many folks out there who believe E. has to do with a lowered I.Q.---being capable of putting our thoughts down on paper is both comforting and proof that we are intelligent individuals, certainly.

Some of us migrate from writing at home to writing at some school. Many of us find an outlet and a reader or two among the nest of academics we make ourselves comfortable among. The experience of having someone besides the immediate family read something you have written can be a heady one because you feel you are receiving something valuable from their reactions. It can be enough to encourage your continued efforts at writing.

I know it has helped me tune up my prose.

It has also allowed me to become less fearful of writing on this subject of E...  In fact, one of the strangest and best encounters I could have experienced happened at school. I nominated an individual for an appreciation award as an Outstanding Person, and she won one of the awards. I had to get up and make a small speech about her relationship to me and why she was outstanding.

At the end of the evening, a young woman came up to me and explained she was the mother of a child with E. and that she was happy I had spoken of my own E. because, she said, she now had a better idea what her own daughter could achieve. 

Can you imagine that! Someone called me a roll model!!!

I am still on Cloud 9 when I think back on it...

 I think achievement is important to us as a community. I think education is one way of reaching out. Sometimes, when we write about our conditions, our experiences with E., it bridges gaps and makes us feel more comfortable with ourselves and others.

The best thing I have taken away from my college experiences have been a renewed sense of socialization: a feeling that I do belong among others, that I am as talented as they are, that I am as worthy as they are.

It's a feeling like no other because it affords me a strong sense of empowerment. 


Wednesday, August 6, 2008

The Mind's Eye...

For those folks who think they know what E. is, this may be an image similar to that which they see in their mind's eye  as "epilepsy manifested" or the expression of epilepsy. This image contains an aspect of wretchedness. I have to point out that this isn't the whole of the epilepsy experience, but it is frequently what folks describe back to me. They have no idea how varied and complex a disorder E. really is.

What do you think of when you think of E.? 

A Scent of Angels: Falling into a Tonic Clonic Seizure

First, comes the scent---the Angels are present. Next comes the fall, and I feel a brushing of wings, growing stronger, more intense until ...