questions for older folks....

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Athena22

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My questions for you older folks with epilepsy and a career.

1. How do you transport your self if you still have epileptic fits.
walking, driving, riding a bike?
It this is a touchy subject, I strongly apologize.

2. How did you pick your career? What is your Career? Do you enjoy your career? How much do you make?
Please don't mind me asking this question...I'm just trying to figure out a career to go into
 
I'm not sure how old you consider older folks?

I'm 37 and unable to drive or work.

I have to rely on friends and family to get me places. Sometimes easier said than done however.

For money I'm on Social Security. I also have disability checks (I think that's what it's called) from the company I worked for when I was diagnosed with epilepsy. In total I receive about $2,000 a month.

I know there are many people here that have very good jobs. They should be able to give you more advice about working again.
 
I'm 58. I work as a property manager and walk to work. I am able to drive as I have only partial seizures.

Some days I like my job, other days, not so much. I work in a very quite office, alone. There's not a lot of action. Some days nobody comes in the office. Sometimes the phone will only ring 1 or 2 times. Occasionally it gets busy, usually the first 5 days of the month when everyone pays their rent and I make the bank deposits. Basically I am there just in case someone needs something. I surf the net a lot, other wise I would go crazy. Occasionally I will forward the calls to my cell phone, go home and leave a note on the door saying I am on the property and to call. As for salary, not enough.
 
Hi Athena, I'm 43, haven't driven or worked in several years buttttttt when I did....

1. How do you transport your self if you still have epileptic fits.

I would typically rent a room or find a temp living situation while I found a job. Once I was settled in I would find an apt very, very close to work. If I was able to drive I mapped out/took the side roads to get there and took notice of places I could pull into if I had a spell. I also tried to carpool when I could - people love getting help with gas money, esp if you're on the way.

2. How did you pick your career? What is your Career? Do you enjoy your career? How much do you make?

I fell into my careers. (When I was a senior in hs I thought I was going to college to be a graphics artist). I have BSBA and IT degrees and worked as an accountant/CFO and db admin and programmer. I love my careers fields and I was paid well.

When I was planning for my future before I realized how bad my health would be and if I were a young person.....
*Figure out what you enjoy doing that you can get paid for.
*Given how tech is now, many disabled/health limited folks are able to work from home.

Now this is just a personal note because my health has gotten so bad....Do what you can and learn as much as you can while you can!!!
 
I'm not sure how old you consider older folks?
:agree:
I'm not sure what you class as an older folk either but I'm 36.

How do you transport your self if you still have seizures.
walking, driving, riding a bike?

My seizures are under control at the moment but I don't drive & never have driven. I could be signed of by my neurologist to get my learners if I wanted but I have no interest in driving & never been interested in driving. I live in an area which is close to the main street & shops so I walk nearly everywhere & where I can't walk I get the bus.

What is your Career?
I work in office administration, at the moment I am a receptionist /administration assistant for a building company.

How did you pick your career?
I had to do Work For the Dole when I was in my early 20s which a program the Australian government had for long term unemployed. It was pretty much like volunteer work but you had to do the work to get your unemployment benefits. I did my 1st Work For the Dole in an office for a non for profit company & enjoyed it so much that I decided to do administration as a career. I went on to further my administration experience by doing courses, voluntary work & the odd bit of part time/casual work until I got my 1st full time job at the place I'm working now.

Do you enjoy your career?
I love it, I was always shy so getting out there & meeting people helped me with my confidence & self esteem.
I love the place I'm working at now as it is a great work environment, everyone is easy going & there is very minimal stress in my role which is great because stress is a major trigger for me.
 
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Good question and i hope I can help. I have controlled epilepsy and would only have aproblem sporadically months or years apart and always in the middle of the night.

Transport... biggest obstacle for work usually.
I cant drive or hold a drivers licese because of some partial vision loss on my left side but I can ride a bike through traffic very successfully without hurting anyone else or myself.

most countries allow motorized bicycles so I strap a motor on a bike and off I go without a license. That gets me around if I get bored with public transport.

w.w.w.goldenmotor.com/ <- please take the dots out between the w's it was the only way a link could be inserted sorry guys. & dont do this if your likely to have a seizure doing it!
w.w.w.rotarybike.com/



Work....
Very hard but office jobs are easiest and public transport usually works well with those.
paying someone to pick you up and car pool works great too sometimes.

What I do now is I work in an online e-commerce business in an office that sells engineering instrumentation a bit like this:

w.w.w.hannainst.com.au/learn_more/c:HI+98183

The other thing I do is some trade type work for people if they help with transport.

Best advice for people with a dissability

spend your spare time at college getting qualifications because it helps to compensate for inability to do other things in jobs and opens doors fear of your disability might otherwise close.

Just about anyone a car and its not a specialist skill, but not everyone can rewire a house or be a degree qualified registered nurse! Few employers even bother to argue that unless driving is really needed.
The e-bike is another way of guaranteeing a punctual turn up at work every day not all sweaty.

Wages: Bad karma discussing that.. i spent a lot of years on poverty line though getting educated and being overlooked in tough times for not driving or being a risk because of possible seizures. I am doing ok now though thankfully.
 
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I'm 54, am on the 6 month hiatus from driving because of last week's t/c but other than being inconvenient it doesn't impact my job much. I have a bus stop 1 1/2 miles from home so I either walk or have my husband drop me there. That begins the trip to BART (our subway) to San Francisco and a four block walk to work. Up until last week, very few at work knew I had E so it was not an issue. I am lucky in that I am a Chartered Financial Analyst (manage investment programs in a Private Bank) so make a good wage, and hope to get 4 1/2 more years in before I retire. My husband is a rad tech (XRays) so we have that as well. Given that my E has been well controlled (5 sz in my life, only 3 in the last 12 years on meds) it hasn't been much of an issue. I've put 65,000 miles on my Harley since I was diagnosed (been riding for about 15 years, plus all the time (decades) on the back of one). So, I count myself unbelievably fortunate. Even if the current problem turns out to be much more than previous and destroys my career (which I fell into at twenty eight - tried using the numbers but it kept coming up with an emoticon), I've got the resources to make it comfortably so don't have to worry in that way. Don't know what advise to give, mine is as much luck as anything.
 
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I'd like to think that's true, but sometimes both are necessary. That and having an amazing group of supportive friends.
 
I'm 31, I sometimes drive to work if I feel able for it that day, - it's only a short drive(technically I probably shouldn't be back driving yet)
I work in childcare, to be honest I am exhausted, I work 40 hour plus week,
I try to take a nap during my lunch break & when I get home, it's not something I would do only I need the money to live


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I'm 38 and have never been seizure free long enough to drive so I work for myself from home. I live in a sociable neighbourhood and when I'm well enough, I pick up my laptop and go work from a coffee shop down the road. I'm a copywriter and features writer.

I try to live in central places where I can walk everywhere I need to go. I use public transport for doctor's consults and I've had to take some preventative measures with the walking because I've run into some near hits in recent weeks.

I adore my career. I didn't find it. When I was young I had a friend who'd become a successful screenwriter and he spotted some of my scrawlings and saw something he liked, so he introduced me to his mentor, who had retired but who decided to take me on. He taught me for seven years and it was only when I was too sick to work that I took the plunge and started submitting features to magazines. That was how it began.

If you do what you're passionate about, you can't go wrong with your career. I have tried other fields but the writing career has always come easily and nothing else ever matched it. I do think that when you do stuff you love, the career will just lay itself out for you.

My earnings rise and fall depending on how my epilepsy is going. When I'm not having seizures I can write for higher paying hard press mags, or bigger businesses, but when I am having seizures I have to tone it down to make room for snail brain.
 
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