Understanding epilepsy. Knowledge education and stigmatisation, 1950-2020.

This study focuses on knowledge production about education for people with epilepsy in Sweden over time (1950-2020).

The overarching questions are: (i) How can we understand the knowledge production on access to education for people with epilepsy in Sweden between 1950 and 2020? (ii) What are the consequences on epilepsy patients’ opportunities to get access to education (and subsequently enter the labour market)? (iii) What different perceptions of the disease can be found when studying the question intersectionally?This three-year project will work with qualitative methods and mainly with extensive textual material.

The main source material are medical and public articles, dissertations, archive material from Svenska Epilepsiförbundet, as well as public prints.

Several recent studies have confirmed that erroneous and archaic beliefs and misunderstandings about the disorder lead to continued stigma and discrimination against people living with epilepsy.

By adding to the knowledge of the cultural aspects of the illness, by studying the access to education och schools for people with epilepsy, this project could help to reduce the stigma of the disease, which would benefit people with epilepsy alive today.