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Removed Epilepsy Jokes
Sun, 03/16/2008 - 10:04Hi everyone,
While I appreciate good humor, making jokes about a person's health and well-being in my mind is not considered good humor, or even humor at all. Some people may find that it helps to make 'light' or laugh during tough times, but for others, it really hurts and feeds into the discrimination and stigma of epilepsy and seizures. Thus, I have taken administrative privileges to remove the thread on epilepsy jokes from this public site.
People who wish to share jokes about people with epilepsy, please do so on private sites or among yourselves in another way. Or better yet, create a thread that shares the positives about epilepsy!
Epi_help
Resource Specialist
Comments
Re: Removed Epilepsy Jokes
Submitted by xkcd on Tue, 2009-02-24 - 21:23
I found the depressing poetry on this website far more upsetting than any epilepsy joke I've ever heard. 5 minutes of reading those and I could've just curled up and died. I can't believe one form of expression (the more miserable one) is allowed to stay while another is forbidden and taboo.
For some people, joking is the only way through. It's the only way to relate, etc. Making those people feel evil and banishing their posts seems very mean. Just like the poetry, perhaps if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, people can just use their brains and not click on the post.
I found the depressing poetry on this website far more upsetting than any epilepsy joke I've ever heard. 5 minutes of reading those and I could've just curled up and died. I can't believe one form of expression (the more miserable one) is allowed to stay while another is forbidden and taboo.
For some people, joking is the only way through. It's the only way to relate, etc. Making those people feel evil and banishing their posts seems very mean. Just like the poetry, perhaps if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, people can just use their brains and not click on the post.
Re: Removed Epilepsy Jokes
Submitted by xkcd on Tue, 2009-02-24 - 21:32
Also I'd like to add that this whole thing just fuels the stigma that people with so-and-so illness should feel miserable or shamed or secretive or sad, and that these are the only emotions you're allowed to feel in public. These are the only "normal" feelings.
Imagine just being diagnosed, looking for support and normality, and the first thing you read is that people are getting in trouble because they made a joke about it. What does that do to your identity?
I'm not trying to be harsh here, I think it is seriously very important that those feelings and that mode of expression is not repressed or censored. I think it should be given more thought than this.
Also I'd like to add that this whole thing just fuels the stigma that people with so-and-so illness should feel miserable or shamed or secretive or sad, and that these are the only emotions you're allowed to feel in public. These are the only "normal" feelings.
Imagine just being diagnosed, looking for support and normality, and the first thing you read is that people are getting in trouble because they made a joke about it. What does that do to your identity?
I'm not trying to be harsh here, I think it is seriously very important that those feelings and that mode of expression is not repressed or censored. I think it should be given more thought than this.
Re: Removed Epilepsy Jokes
Submitted by cvargas on Sat, 2009-02-21 - 13:21
growing up was tough not because of E but because I was the seed of everyones joke oh then getting glasses and acne and short I can imagine what would have happen if my sz would happen during the day (i was always asleep) my Mom used to say that there wasnt a day that I would come home without crying.....but it made me stronger about my E I told everyone andtheir mother I didnt want to drop to the floor and have anyone panic on me so I made sure everyone knew what I had since I was very young now I had right temporal lobe sugery and Im left handed so my thing I try to laugh at is I dont know which mind Im in anymore.
growing up was tough not because of E but because I was the seed of everyones joke oh then getting glasses and acne and short I can imagine what would have happen if my sz would happen during the day (i was always asleep) my Mom used to say that there wasnt a day that I would come home without crying.....but it made me stronger about my E I told everyone andtheir mother I didnt want to drop to the floor and have anyone panic on me so I made sure everyone knew what I had since I was very young now I had right temporal lobe sugery and Im left handed so my thing I try to laugh at is I dont know which mind Im in anymore.