The ‘Walk for Epilepsy’ failed to shake me up

On the last day of March, the Epilepsy Foundation of America concluded its first annual ‘Walk for Epilepsy’. Theoretically, I should have been one of their biggest supporters; after all, I am a politically conscious person with epilepsy.

Instead, the rally’s focus demonstrated a big disconnect between the organization and the communities they are claiming to work on behalf of. It actually proposed to ‘find a cure’ for epilepsy rather than offering ideas to combat the discrimination which I and other people continue facing only because of who we are.

While serving in the House of Representatives, Tony Coelho wrote the Americans with Disabilities Act because of what he and many other people with epilepsy (among other disabilities) had experienced. We needed a civil rights law — and we needed a civil rights march yesterday! Can you imagine if the 1963 'March on Washington' had proposed to eliminate blackness rather than racism?

If the 'Walk for Epilepsy' organizers really wanted a ‘social justice event’, why were ongoing high unemployment rates among people with disabilities not addressed? According to the U.S. Census, 70 percent of people with disabilities do not work — in spite of the ADA, which, yes, does include a section on employment non-discrimination.

Prior to assuming my current job, I was included in those depressing statistics. I received plenty of job offers, but then had to turn them down because the hiring offices were either located well off of mass transit lines, or had hours which required me to stay at the office later than the last bus run. Para-transit was an option I explored, but it must be arranged in advance for each use and there is no guarantee that a ride will come at the exact time the person requesting it needs it.

Why is the Epilepsy Foundation not challenging the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority’s illogical decision to discontinue offering monthly and yearly bus passes despite a Texas law requiring people to be seizure-free for three months before being able to drive a car? Their paradoxical silence on METRO’s policy change damages freedom much more than my — or anyone's — merely having seizures. Having to now use a stored-value card to travel everywhere costs Houstonians more when they don’t have the option of driving a car.

Finally, it blatantly contradicts the transit fare options in other cities such as Austin, and Dallas, which avoid creating entire classes of dependent shut-ins due to disabilities. Again, where was the Epilepsy Foundation's national and local affiliate social justice call? What is their real motive behind not wanting to shake up the system when they had both the prime opportunity and ethical responsibility to do so?