Ridiculous Discrimination

So Barron found this story for me, thinking it might piss me off.

He was right.

A former student at Colorado Mountain College says she was forced to drop a class because she had a seizure

OK that doesn’t upset me. The Mrs. was a “Closet Epileptic” for the majority of her life with the disease, for those who read me back in the Livejournal days might remember some of my more cryptic posts, tho the hardest were the times when I said NOTHING, and had to help conceal the illness.

Still I pointed out to her before she “Came Out” that the people who get the hardcore discrimination are the Epileptics who have the violent seizures. Frankly with that there is some reasonable considerations to be made. Obviously and uncontrolled epileptic as a driver for a company, also it isn’t best if your company receptionist is thrashing, foaming, and wetting their pants. Also I’ll point out the article doesn’t give the frequency of her seizures. Some people might have one a month, or one every few years…others might have 3-4 a day. Still…

Channing Seideman was in the middle of an emergency medical technician class when she had an epileptic seizure. She said faculty members asked her to drop the class, saying the episode was too distracting to other students and there could be more.

An EMT class! Let me put it this way, we had a practical lab back when I was getting licensed as a Fishery Observer. We had classroom work, then we took a break, then we went into the lab where a bunch of frozen fish had been thawed this morning.

When you freeze a WHOLE fish (guts and all) then thaw it, you get a lot of nasty liquid which even in a cold room will oxidize and start to smell. This was nothing horrible, but the room was a bit ripe when we came in.

I had grabbed a cup of tea and an apple from the snack cart, and I finished the tea, but brought the apple into the lab. People asked me how I could be eating in the room. These were all people planning on LIVING on Commercial Fishing Boats! If a little fish stink gets you off your feed, you’re gonna lose some weight in this job!

If a woman having a seizure wrecks the EMT class, maybe EMT isn’t your calling. Especially given that there are LOADS more things that will cause a non-epileptic to have a seizure, such as drugs or trauma, or various illnesses.

Again it doesn’t say how often her seizures are, but given that the article only mentions ONE, I can’t imagine that she’s that frequent.

If a young woman having a seizure ruins your day, its time to re-think your career path as EMT or Medicine.

I wish her luck in her lawsuit.

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0 Responses to Ridiculous Discrimination

  1. Erin Palette says:

    When you said “practical lab,” my immediate thought was “A woman having a seizure in an EMT class is not a crisis, but rather a teachable moment.”

    • Weerd Beard says:

      My wife was well-controlled in High school, but we had a classmate that had about 2-3 grand-mal seizures per month (most at home), she had one in our biology class. It wasn’t quite a teachable moment, because we weren’t really discussing it, and privacy was an issue. Still it was a learning experience.

  2. RWC says:

    Another feel good story for ya Weer’d.

    http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/6th-grade-football-player-hit-with-Madre-Hill-Rule/i5OBaa1L8UaHQtcwPuKw9A.cspx?rss=315

    They handicap the team because one of the players is too damn good. Can’t have anyone’s feelings hurt.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Yeah that’s great for kids, because everybody has the same talent, skill, and drive in real life.

      We’re building weaker human beings for tomorrow because its easier for our lazy parents and out Union Teachers today….

  3. Bob S. says:

    I thought the same thing Erin did — teachable moment.

    The professor should be fired for incompetence if it wasn’t used as teachable moment.

    And given the nature of our over reaching government, isn’t there a law to protect people? Americans With Disabilities Act or something?

  4. John says:

    I saw this one yesterday and thought it was pretty sleazy for a school to do that. The original report I saw didn’t mention anything about it being an EMT class though, so now I’m seriously fscking annoyed about it. Erin’s right — could have been a teaching moment for the class, but they decided to shoot themselves in the foot.

    Reminds me of my own very different experience in EMT school way back when. We had an instructor in a neighboring class who had an MI… he walked into ours, presumably to get help because he knew something was wrong, then fell over… on me. Nothing gets a bunch of EMT students motivated like getting to actually DO the things we’ve been learning about.

  5. chiefjaybob says:

    I’m with the others on the whole, “teachable moment,” meme. Golden. Show what to do, make them get their hands on a patient and do some treatment. Show them that, at the EMT level, they won’t kill someone having a seizure. Show them that people having a seizure aren’t freaks, aren’t contagious, aren’t going to die on you if you take appropriate action. Totally incompetent instructor. And spineless, brain-dead faculty to go along. But that seems to be par for the course in these days of “Zero Tolerance.” Bah.

  6. Dan says:

    Absolutely ridiculous. The irony of it being an EMT class is a real face-palmer. I hope justice is served here.

  7. Kristopher says:

    There may be some issues about whether or not an ambulance company or a fire department will hire an uncontrolled epileptic … but that is really none of the college’s business.

    I hope she sues them stupid.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Yeah, it would make sense if this was on-the-job training, but it’s a college class. I took a bunch of classes I just thought were interesting, and I had a right to.

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