Walking into the elevator, I saw a woman was going to my same floor. I asked her if she was going to the #epilepsy support group. She was, we assured each other that we knew where the room was, and then we immediately got lost!
Simultaneously, we said, “Sorry, I get so confused!”



Her name is Jeanie, and she is an older woman. She seems cool. She was wearing hiking clothes and she looks like she really hikes.
We found the room, and there was Dawn, the lady from the previous group who was so adamnt about me needing a monitoring device. I was happy to see her. She is also older, and she said her next door neighbor in the senior village she lives in asked her out on a date to lunch! She and Jeanie have been attending this group for a while , so they’re old friends.
Then a tug on my arm; it was Tasha, co-ordinator for the neurology clinic and founder of the group.
She introduced me to a young woman named Jordan, who is #ActuallyAutistic and epileptic. She has some other challenges, but I urged her to join @actuallyautistic , so maybe she will, and she can tell you herself, if she wants to.
Instead of decorating cookies, we talked the whole time, and other people were gradually drawn into our conversation- including Dawn, and some other people who were new to the group… and to epilepsy.
They all said they felt like I did; they don’t want to decorate cookies and do “activities” (I know they had the best intentions, and some people enjoyed it), we want to talk to each other and learn. So we’re all going to meet somewhere quieter where we can really hear each other in January.
I’m glad I went. I learned a lot from Jordan, and we’ve been texting. She says #Mastodon is the best platform for accessibility, so maybe we’ll see her here! I know you will all make her feel welcome!