Let’s hear it for the good guys!! Add one more to the short list of films and series
that don’t have negative images of people with epilepsy.
In YouTube Premium’s Impulse,
based on the novel by Stephen Gould and directed by Doug Liman, Henrietta's (Henry's) seizures become
portals to her superhuman power, teleportation.
Sure, while intelligent, articulate, and physically attractive, she’s
depicted as a funky, emotionally damaged 16-year-old who is slightly self-conscious
of her epilepsy. However, most of her
problems are attributed to her lack of a stable home. Her father disappeared when she was young,
and she has moved around since, her mother’s flights from towns along the way precipitated
by relationships gone bad.
Henry only refers to her epilepsy’s making her feel like an
outsider once, maybe twice. And there’s
no evidence that others at school or in the town look at her any differently
because of her condition, even after she has a seizure in the middle of
class. With stigma radar on full blast,
I watched all 10 episodes, waiting for the hammer to drop. Surely, there would be something reflecting
the prejudices surrounding epilepsy.
Honestly, I couldn’t find anything.
The only factor separating her from the other students seems to be her
own loner proclivities. Even the popular,
big-time school athlete is attracted to her.
Also, Impulse
depicts correct responses to seizures and therapies. There were no wallets put in her mouth or
attempts from others to hold her down when seizing. Alsop, it refers to medication used in the real
world – lamotrigine and carbamazepine as therapy and lorazepam as a rescue
med.
One other recent movie, Snowden,
depicts a real-life brilliant man with epilepsy, Edward Snowden. There are rational people who might take
issue with his whistleblowing on the NSA, thinking him a traitor; other
rational people see him as a hero.
Whatever one’s feelings, there’s no getting around the fact that he’s a
genius, and the only reason he rejects caring for himself in the face of his
epilepsy is that his carbamazepine slightly hinders his cognitive
abilities. And let’s face it, that’s a
fair criticism of AEDs. Also, this is
another movie in which no one looks at him in a different way because of his
seizures.
Now, I’m fully aware that many people feel stigmatized,
especially when it comes to employment. Goodness
knows, I have. Nonetheless, I’d like to
think that these popular films hold a mirror up to society’s progress when it
comes to prejudices against epilepsy.
And in perhaps most regions in the world, they do. That said, many of us still hide our
epilepsy, stigmatizing ourselves. The
more we can accept who we are, realizing that there is no one picture of
someone with epilepsy in the minds of many out there, the sooner others will
see us as who we are – just people, often particularly strong because of our
medical challenges.
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