Kids with epilepsy are not dumb or weird or dangerous, and they don't "look funny" either. You can do almost everything your friends can do, like baseball, soccer, and biking. If you have epilepsy, you can make sure your friends know a lot about it so they won't be frightened if you have a seizure. The more they know, the less frightened they will be. You can tell them to read about it on this site and you can send us your photos, drawings, or writing to help everyone understand what it is like.

Some pretty famous people have had epilepsy—Julius Caesar, Vincent van Gogh, Alfred Nobel, Napoleon Bonaparte, and even Hercules, the most famous of all the Greek gods. So if you want to be a hero, an inventor, a leader, or even an emperor, don't let epilepsy get in your way.

Maybe you could ask your teacher if you can do a class project on these famous folks?

Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, M.D.
Last Reviewed:12/15/06