Do I have to hide my epilepsy?

Not everyone with epilepsy can hide it.  Some of us have grand mal seizures and if those are occurring often, it's hard to hide it.  Fortunately that is where I got lucky with my epilepsy.  I don't have grand mal seizures, my seizures are very quick and don't happen often.  If you were to see me on the street you would probably never guess that I have had multiple seizures and many twitches in my life. 

I know that we would all like to have epilepsy not be looked down upon but let's face it, it's not the first thing you are going to tell someone on a job interview.  People are still scared because when someone hears epilepsy they automatically think seizures.  They don't think about all the different types of seizures or different types of epilepsy.

 I chose to hide my epilepsy from most people.  If it's people I trust or people I am around a lot of course I will tell them just in case if I was to go into a seizure.  I tell them what to do and give them my parents phone numbers.  This sounds a little like middle school for me where my parents had to know where I was at all times.  It kind of still is like that just I'm older and I don't fight them about it or say they are over reacting.  I know my limit and I know how late I can stay up.  I know I can't be reckless.

Even though I chose to hide my epilepsy that doesn't mean I am ashamed of it or don't want to talk about it.  I just chose not to tell everyone.  I don't want to scare anyone especially if they first meet me because they haven't known me for long enough to see that I'm actually pretty normal I just have restrictions.

I know every one is different and some people have no problem talking about it and some people literally don't tell anyone but their family.  Writing all of this on the internet doesn't really hide it from people but at least I can tell my story one day at a time.