In the United Kingdom, a full national private pilot license requires the same standards as a professional drivers license. This requires a period of ten years without seizures while off medications. Those who do not meet this requirement may acquire a restricted license if free from seizures for five years. Support organizations
There are organizations that provide support for people and families affected by epilepsy. The Out of the Shadows campaign, a joint effort by the World Health Organization, the International League Against Epilepsy and the International Bureau for Epilepsy, provides help internationally. In the United States, the Epilepsy Foundation is a national organization that works to increase the acceptance of those with the disorder, their ability to function in society and to promote research for a cure. The Epilepsy Foundation, some hospitals, and some individuals also run support groups in the United States. In Australia, the Epilepsy Foundation provides support, delivers education and training and funds research for people living with epilepsy. International Epilepsy Day (World Epilepsy Day) began in 2015 and occurs on the second Monday in February.Purple Day, a different world-wide epilepsy awareness day for epilepsy, was initiated by a nine-year-old Canadian named Cassidy Megan in 2008, and is every year on March 26. Research
Seizure prediction and modeling
Seizure prediction refers to attempts to forecast epileptic seizures based on the EEG before they occur. As of 2011, no effective mechanism to predict seizures has been developed.
As late as in the second half of the 20th century, in Tanzania and other parts of Africa epilepsy was associated with possession by evil spirits, witchcraft, or poisoning and was believed by many to be contagious. In the Salpêtrière, the birthplace of modern neurology, Jean-Martin Charcot found people with epilepsy side by side with the mentally ill, those with chronic syphilis, and the criminally insane. In ancient Rome, epilepsy was known as the morbus comitialis (disease of the assembly hall) and was seen as a curse from the gods. In northern Italy, epilepsy was once traditionally known as Saint Valentines malady. In at least the 1840s in the United States of America, epilepsy was known as the falling sickness or the falling fits, and was considered a form of medical insanity. Around the same time period, epilepsy was known in France as the haut-mal (high evil), mal-de terre (earthen sickness), mal de Saint Jean (Saint Johns sickness), mal des enfans (child sickness), and mal-caduc (obsolete sickness). Patients of epilepsy in France were also known as tombeurs, or people who fall, due to the seizures and loss of consciousness in an epileptic episode.In the mid-19th century, the first effective anti-seizure medication, bromide, was introduced. The first modern treatment, phenobarbital, was developed in 1912, with phenytoin coming into use in 1938. Society and culture
Stigma
Stigma is commonly experienced, around the world, by those with epilepsy. It can affect people economically, socially and culturally. In India and China, epilepsy may be used as justification to deny marriage.