Having seizures in college and succeeding in college is a big juggling act. There is no doubt in my mind that people with epilepsy can go to college, and more than that, be successful in college.
I am a full-time college student at the University of California, Davis, studying English and Cognitive Science.
Going to college is already a scary process, and is more so with a disability. One of the most challenging things can be living on your own without your parents, who most likely, know the ins and outs of your condition.
Something that I have found useful is to be honest with your housemates or roommate about your seizures pretty early in meeting them. You do not want to be stuck in a situation where you feel like you have to hide your disability, or even worse, be situated with someone who after a while, you still do not feel comfortable telling them about your seizures. Your roommate doesn’t need to be your best friend, but they should know how to keep you safe and be comfortable in that role.
Telling people who you are going to live with that you have seizures can feel like you are dumping an unnecessary burden onto them. Remember you did not choose to have epilepsy, and if your epilepsy is too much of a problem, they are most likely not the roommate for you.
Succeeding in college (with and without epilepsy)is a lot about time management, and with that, remembering to take care of yourself. Oftentimes when I wake up from a seizure nowadays, I think “sh!t, I have so much due this week!” I have to remind myself that even if I dive straight back into school, my brain is not going to be in a place to learn or process information, and it is better to wait until your brain has recovered to tackle assignments.
This often involves talking to the Disability Services, who will advocate for you for extensions. Under no case do you have to tell the professor what happened. Your disability services advocate emailing professors can have a bigger effect, especially if in the syllabus it says that they do not allow extensions, which with some professors and situations can be trickier.
Something that has helped me personally in taking care of myself during college is to enforce personal boundaries.College is an exciting time where one will be exposed to new experiences and ideas they have never thought about or experienced before, and diving straight into it can seem awesome and fun, but it can potentially backfire. Whether that means waiting awhile to tell people about your epilepsy (roommate, new friend), or following a routine, thinking about what are triggers for you and how you can adjust your life to be both fruitful and protective of yourself. It is very tempting to party every single weekend and pull all nighters during finals week, but finals week is also a terrible time to find out lack of sleep triggers tonic clonic seizures for you.
At college it can seem like at that point in your life you know your epilepsy inside and out. However, your brain is still changing and does not fully develop until you are 27, and by default your epilepsy too.
© 2021 Katie Nunn All Rights Reserved
