Telling potential employers about your epilepsy.

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You don’t have to tell your employer or a potential employer about your epilepsy, if you don’t feel it’s relevant. This could be the case if your epilepsy is well controlled and won’t affect your ability to do your job safely and effectively.

If you don’t declare your epilepsy and it does affect your ability to do your job safely, your employer may be able to dismiss you. Your employer would have to prove that they gave you the opportunity to tell them how your epilepsy could affect your job. They would also have to prove that you didn’t provide this information. They must also prove that at the time you applied for the job, your epilepsy could have caused health and safety risks.

When you are deciding whether or not to tell your employer about your epilepsy, here are some things to consider.

• If your employer doesn’t know about your epilepsy, they can’t make reasonable adjustments under the equality laws to help you do your work. What’s more, they couldn’t be blamed for not doing so. epilepsy.org.uk/info/equality

• If your employer doesn’t know about your epilepsy, they won’t know how to help you during and after a seizure.

• It’s very important to make sure that you are fulfilling your responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act. epilepsy.org.uk/info/employ...

• You may not be covered by your employer’s insurance if they don’t know that you have epilepsy. epilepsy.org.uk/info/employ...

If you do decide to tell your employer about your epilepsy, it would be advisable to do this before you begin the job. This would give them time to arrange any reasonable adjustments for you, if necessary.

If you don’t declare your epilepsy before starting a job, you can change your mind and tell your employer at any time. You might do this if your seizures become more frequent or severe, and you feel they may start to have an effect on your work.

[x--lee--x]

i told my manager about my epilepsy the night i started work, was really nervous about saying, thought it would change there mind about keeping me on, but manager was brilliant just asked some questions about the seizures, what happens, what he should do, do i have a warning and stuff. am so relieved, he just treats me like everyone else no different, he checks up on me every so often but doesnt make it obvious why, i chose not to tell anyone else till i feel more comfortable.