The Problem of Unemployment Among Epileptics

Abstract

'l'lic-iinniiiil confcrencc of tlic Triitlcs Union Congress, iintl t Iir Prcsiclcntiiil Adclrcss of Sir Jiiincs Jcnns nt tlic nicc!ting of tlic 'ljritish Associiitiori, Iinvc hroiiglit, our iiiintls 1):ick to t lie qiicstioii of iiiicniployn1e11t. i i n t l its ciiiiscs niid tlic possilditics of overcoming this socid evil. With tlic prcsrnt v:ist orniy of workless 0 1 1 t hr Uiicniploynicnt, Registers ivc Iinvr hccoriic too prone to throw iip OW linnds in liorror ns :it. n cii1:imity iinprcccdciitccl iii oiir iintioiinl history. I h t , tlirc ns t.liis cnliiniity is to tliosc niifortinintc I&gs whosc wcckly l\*iigc is rcdiicctl to tlic 1)nrcst sirbsistciicc Icvrl of Uncinploynicnt Insuriiiicc piiy or 'I'rnnsit.ion:il Dcncfit., and 1)iirrlcnsonic ns it is for tlic coiiiiniiiiity to Ilii\*c to siipport in idlcncss so Inrgc ii niiml)cr of ~woplc wlio slioiild properly hc occiipicd in iiicrciisirig riitlicr tiinn tliiniiiisliing iiiitioiiiil ~vcnltli, \vc inlist, not losc sight of the true 1)crq)cctivc of tlic prol)lcin or of its csscnt in1 ii1tiiii:itr solu1)ility.I 1i:it t.licrc 1i:is ncvtbr hcwi so large n niinil)cr of uiicniployccl :is during tlic Iilst fcw yciirs tlicrc ctiii, of coiirsc, l)c no clenyiiig ; Init. surely it is in rchtion to tlic coiirit.ry's ~~~p i i l i i t i o n :IS :t wliolc tliiit we should first consitlcr the problcni wlicn jutlging of its conil)nr:itivc niiignitiitlc. d\tlniittcdly, this is tliflicirlt to 110 wit11 iiny iicciiri~cy since the ciirliest rcgiiliir records ivc Iiiivc to go on iirc t.lic figiircs of n very liniitcci niimhcr of 'I'riitlcs Unions, ~vliicli wr(! lirst kept in 1Sti0, w l i i l c b clcliiiitc ollicinl rccortls were iiot ;iv:iil:iblc iintil i t very iniicli litter dntc. Scvcrtliclcss, \vc do kiimv tlint. i n thc reign of (?II~CII JSlizitbctJi thcrc ivcrc so ninny pcoplc t rniiiping from pincc to plncc i n n starving voiitlitioii, 1ool;iiig for worl; i i n t l tliiit tlic I)rol)lcni of t1c:iling with tlitwi l i d :issiiinctl sircli nlnrining proport ions tliiit. in 1601 tlic Poor ficlicf Act wns piisscd, providing for thc iippointmciit i n cvcry 1~wis1i of "four, tlircc, or t\vo siibstriIit,i:il Iio~iseliolclcrs," to he ciillcd oviwt'crs of thc poor. 11. wns t,hc tliity of thcsc o\'crsccrs, in conjunct ion ivitli t,lic cliurcliwnrtlcns, to set to lvor]; poor pcoplc \vlio 1i:itl 110 liiciilis of subsistcncc,

A Follow-up Study of Late-onset Epilepsy--II. Psychiatric and Social Findings

“…W. A. Kennedy and B. Siccombe, in 1958, in an unpublished paper on 100 consecutive patients attending the Maudsley Hospital Epileptic Clinic, concluded that "the frequency of attacks bore no relation to a poor work record but personality and intelligence were the most important factors." Gordon and Russell (1958) in their study of 400 epileptic patients attending the National Hospital concur with this view, and Pond and Bidwell (1960) found in their survey that no men were unemployable because of fits alone. Our patients would therefore be expected to show a poor work record, as most of them were psychiatrically disturbed.…”

Epilepsy at Work: Evaluating the Cost of Epilepsy in the Workplace

“…Over the past 30 years, many studies in the U.K. have investigated these difficulties by comparing the employment prospects of people with epilepsy with those of the general population. These studies highlighted a wide variety of problems that can be faced.Initial studies by Gordon and Russell (1958) (3) and Crombie et al (1960) (4) revealed that people with epilepsy were less likely to be employed, and 540% of those of employable age reported serious difficulties with employment at some time. More recently, Scambler and Hopkins (1980) (5) showed excess unemployment rates for people with epilepsy, and Elwes et al (6) demonstrated that in an area of England with a high unemployment rate, 48% of people with epilepsy who were potentially economically active were unemployed compared with 19% of age-and sex-matched individuals from the general population.…”