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The Problem of Unemployment among Epileptics

The National Hospital, Queen Square, W.C.1

ABSTRACT

Three hundred men and a hundred women suffering from epilepsy, who were employed or were seeking employment, were selected at random from among the patients attending the out-patient department at the National Hospital, Queen Square. The men were divided into three groups according to their age, and then these and the group containing the hundred women were analysed. The various features that it was thought might affect these patients' employability were considered in detail. These included, among others, the type of epilepsy from which the patients suffered; the relationship of these various types to the grade of employment; the time of occurrence of the fits; and whether there was a warning of the attacks of unconsciousness sufficient for reasonable precautionary measures to be taken. It was thought that the factor, other than epilepsy, that was most likely to influence these patients' ability to obtain work was their level of intelligence.A rough estimate was therefore made of this in the case of every patient, and they were classified as of above average, average, and below average intelligence.

The most remarkable feature of this survey was the few men and women who were not working. The vast majority of those who were working were economically employed, only an occasional patient being given a job in a family business which he might otherwise not have obtained, or working in such an organization as Remploy. The unemployed were considered in greater detail than the various groups as a whole, but their numbers were too small to allow any definite conclusions to be drawn. There were undoubtedly more patients with a below average intelligence among the unemployed than among those who were at work, and it became apparent that it was this factor and sometimes disorders of personality that more frequently prevented them obtaining work than the presence of a disability such as epilepsy.

Various problems connected with the employment of epileptic patients were then discussed, such as the necessity for some of these patients to change their jobs and the advisability for those who were having frequent attacks to be registered as disabled. It was stressed that although the problem of unemployment among epileptics is at the moment a small one, there was still much that could be done to help these patients by both the doctor and the social worker.