How to Tag Gifs for People with Epilepsy: A Masterpost
Hello Tumblr! I’m here to talk about something near and dear to my heart: tagging gifs that could trigger an epileptic seizure. This is a huge issue (google SUDEP if you don’t believe me), and yet it doesn’t seem to get much attention from the community at large. Very often I see people claim “I don’t know what to tag!” and so they either tag every gif or none at all. That’s why this post was made. I’m here to educate you and spread awareness.
If you follow the ‘read more’, I’ve gathered a whole army of gifs with the help of the lovely eyelash that will help you understand what should and should not be tagged. WARNING: If you are a photosensitive epileptic or bothered by gifs in general, please do not click the link below. The gifs within are many and quite triggering.
the other day one of my friends mentioned that they were kind of afraid to hang out with me without other people around bcs they did not know what to do in the event of a seizure, so i feel like i should spread some general knowledge. did u know that seizure first aid is misrepresented about 80% of the time on tv? not cool right
HERE ARE SOME FACTS and then there are no excuses you have to hang out with me
stuff u should do for generalized tonic/clonic seizures i.e. grand mals:
1. try to speak and act in a calm, reassuring manner, inform people nearby they should do the same—no yelling or screaming or general freaking out. i know it’s scary and u don’t want me to get hurt, ty i appreciate, but there is a pretty good chance i am going to be in a state of complete panic and terror, and it’s v. helpful to know someone is there for me and knows what to do
2. clear area of sharp/hard objects and help me lie down
3. if i have glasses? remove them. if i’m wearing a tie? loosen it.
4. put something soft under my head lol yes u probably aren’t carrying a pillow around so like a jacket or something is fine
5. gently turn me on my side that will help keep my airway clear
6. stay with me until i am fully awake, be friendly and reassuring as i return to consciousness again i know u are scared, but don’t worry in the game of scared i have won there is no middle ground
7. time my seizure! if it lasts more than 5 min, if i appear to have difficulty breathing, if my recovery seems slow, if i have a second seizure, if i appear to be in pain or injured as i awake, call 911 (or whatever the number for your emergency service is) this addendum is here bcs fucking health insurance is fucking terrible. IF U KNOW SOMEONE HAS A SEIZURE DISORDER pls ask what they prefer u to do in the event of a seizure
8. if i still seem confused/out of it, offer to call a friend or family member to come get me, or call a taxi
and there is also!
stuff u should not do:
1. DO NOT TRY TO RESTRAIN ME OR STOP MY MOVEMENTS
2. DO NOT STICK ANYTHING IN MY MOUTH i promise it’s physically impossible for me to swallow my tongue
3. DO NOT OFFER ME FOOD OR DRINK UNTIL I AM FULLY CONSCIOUS AND AWARE
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE
stuff u should do for absence seizures (usually manifests as blank staring, loss of awareness, involuntary facial movements like blinking or chewing:
1. speak calmly and reassuringly
2. gently guide me away from and block access to dangers, again DO NOT PHYSICALLY RESTRAIN ME
3. if i appear agitated, stay some distance away, but still close enough to protect me if need be yy u are gonna be my knight in shining armor frand
4. stay with me until i am fully conscious and alert, offer to call whomever etc etc
yup those were some facts. and there are many more kinds of seizures, they come in all flavors. these are just the ones i am personally familiar with! so if you want to know more, always always ask your frand, they will probably appreciate knowing that u are there looking out for them
“The doctors told me that the neuronal activity in my brain was excessive — too much — a dictionary definition for my entire life. This earth, over time, has accumulated more earth. The weight of humans that are born from nothing. Roses with heavy roots. Gravity sinking into itself slowly. The weight builds and the plates shift. Clouds start taking on heavier burdens. My neurons are excessive, too much. The lovebirds of my synapses talk softly to one another. Sparks flying. Dendrites holds dendrites. My body gaining not weight but rather, everything the world has given me, stuffed in the rivers and valleys of my mind, the folds and grooves of pink grey matter. Even when I was laying on the flat table in the flat room with the wires coming out of every corner of my head, my synapses were dousing each other in gasoline and throwing matches in every direction. Men are selling little promises down the street, and my drug dealer gives me four for less than ten dollars. The world orchestrates. My radiator smashes bricks against the floor. A man and a woman argue over arguing outside. My body is lurching and my mind is aching and I feel my heartbeat through my skin. My organs are not secretive about their affairs with each other. I lay with my cheek flat against the tile floor because I haven't slept for days and everything is whispering so loud and the world is pooling inside of me. Excess, the doctor said. And I didn't know how to ask him of what. ”
—“Epilepsy,” Shinji Moon
Epilepsy
I climb into bed with her, the soft static of the heart monitor
like the sound of the dialtone when someone on the other end
of the line has hung up. Match myself to her, thigh against thigh,
arm against arm, her dark red hair exploding like an exit wound
against my shoulder. Hours earlier she began to dance,
slowly at first, then faster-I thought she was waltzing to the Buddy Holly
record I’d put on, deep purple dress unpeeling like an orange rind
around her legs, until her body shook like a landslide
in a small village in Alaska, the kind that bulldozes
over everything it loves just to hear the sound of the houses’ hearts breaking.
She said later that everything went gold, like two hundred solar flares
going up all at once, fireworks on the tip of her tongue
where she bit and bit as the waves coursed through her body.
Now we rest, blue light from the window breaking across her face,
eyes closed. The doctors are worried she’s sustained
long-term brain damage, but in my mind I picture the grey cortical mass,
lit up like a Christmas tree, every neuron high on electricity,
full of a language all its own, a combination of Braille and sign language.
Now, I hold her, surprisingly still, the only thing moving
her heartbeat, that old trusty organ,
the one that leaps and bounds for joy, the one she fed into my palms
as she had the seizure, that fragile bowl her body
keeps breaking down, the one I keep building up
and giving back and back into her hands.
