About my medical condition: I have an odd type of epilepsy called juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. It only affects me in the mornings when I am waking up, so I wake up an hour earlier than others would to make sure my body is okay before getting out of bed. No unconsciousness, no grand mals either. Just full body jerks if I get up too soon.
Some important context: My internship refuses to give remote makeup hours even if you have covid. I could only come in Thursdays-Fridays because I’m in grad school and have classes and a lot of appointments on Wednesdays. Well, I had to stop going to my appointments in October because they would not give me makeup hours and I wanted to graduate on time. So my physical and mental health are declining. Also my pet just died which I’ve been grieving about.
The day of: Flash forward to Thursday November 10th. Long story short, my epilepsy symptoms lasted much longer than usual, for the entire hour I felt cloudy and had stunted motor skills. Because of an experience I had missing a day in the past, I ended up driving to my internship anyway. I know, it was dangerous. But when you’re posed with having to spend another few grand because you got fired, well… there’s a lot you’ll do. Especially when you’re not thinking critically.
When I got to my internship, my epilepsy symptoms wouldn’t go away. I couldn’t focus my eyes on the documentation, like nothing was coming into focus. I felt faint, and my speech was still slightly slurred. I checked my vitals to make sure I didn’t need to go to the ER, and thankfully I was okay. I let my supervisor know what was going on, and she said she didnt feel comfortable bringing students into our room (School placed internship) if I was “going to have a seizure or something.” I explained to her how my epilepsy works, and asked if I could sit in another room until my symptoms subsided. She said that if something happened to me, it would be a liability issue, so I couldn’t do that. I tried explaining again but she wouldn’t let me leave. She kept asking me if I needed to go home.
Confused, I asked her “what would you like me to do? I can stay, go to a different room, or I can go home.” She looks at me, smiles wide-eyed, and says “it’s your choice!” This really stressed me out because I still had impaired critical thinking skills. I said “well what would you suggest? What would be best right now?” Again, same face, “it’s your choice!” I explained the symptoms were going to last at least a few hours, and I didnt want her to not work because of me, so I was going to go home. She said “okay! Let me know if you’re going to come in tomorrow.”
An hour after her shift ended I got an email from her director of communications telling me I was fired for spotty attendance. The only times I missed were when I had covid and when we agreed I should take a day off due to my pet passing away. No previous discussion with my practicum liaison was had, so she was just as surprised. I have no idea what the fuck to do about this other than work out my next placement and try to move on. It just feels so illegal and I’m so angry.
TL;DR: Had to leave my internship because I was having epileptic symptoms, got fired the same day.