I was reading the news the other day and came across an article that got me so angry. A man had been using the medical condition of epilepsy to get out of paying for his expensive meals. Luckily he got caught but his punishment is a very small punishment; a slap on the hand if you will.
The reason why this story got me so riled was because of the fact that my mother has been living with epilepsy for 26 years.She has to deal with the repercussions of her disability daily. For someone to mock and mimic an invisible disability is a despicable act. She has had to recently stop driving because her seizures have gotten so bad. Her seizures have taken a toll on her memory slightly so the small task of reminiscing becomes a difficult task of the realization that her disability is becoming more and more relevant each time we talk.
The man who decided it is acceptable to skip out on paying for a meal by faking a seizure makes me sick. It is disgusting and I wish he could understand epilepsy more in depth; this disability is no joking matter. Since he used the disability to his benefit, it makes me worried for my mother. If she has a seizure in the grocery store, restaurant, and any other public place, will people be less likely to help her if they think she is faking. I hope that if people see someone having a seizure they can recognize it and stay by that persons side until they come out of it. I hope that this mans acts did not make people want to turn a cold shoulder to a person actually having a seizure.
I really like that you bring up how this story as a media event shapes people’s future interactions with people with disabilities. I think there was a part in the article where an EMT was telling the man something along the lines of “snap out of it, we all know you’re faking”, presumably in front of other restaurant patrons and staff.
The general facebook reaction I saw during the event was a serious outrage at skipping the bill (a lot of waiters empathizing with other waiters who probably had to eat the tabs the man was avoiding) and a weird sentiment that the man was ‘lazy’ for not just i.e. running out of the door.
The potential ‘I wonder if they’re faking it’ scrutiny is really terrifying and I’m glad that you brought it up, thanks.