EpilepsyPOWER - English
Soad Louissi
Chercheur - Enseignante - Consultante - Spécialiste en Diversité et Inclusion.
Background & introduction
Some work environments pose many possible hazards for people with epilepsy, while others may not be suitable for someone with seizures. If someone has epilepsy, it means they tend to have epileptic seizures. Epilepsy is not necessarily a life-long diagnosis, and doctors may consider that someone no longer has epilepsy if they go without seizures for a long enough time.
Electrical activity is happening in our brain all the time. A seizure happens when there is a sudden burst of intense electrical activity in the brain. This is often referred to as epileptic activity. The epileptic activity causes a temporary disruption to the way the brain normally works, so the brain’s messages become mixed up. The brain is responsible for all the functions of the body. What happens during a seizure will depend on where in the brain the epileptic activity begins, and how widely and quickly it spreads. For this reason, there are many different types of seizure, and each person will experience epilepsy in a way that is unique to them.
Most jobs may be made safer with a few changes and in many cases, employers are required by law to make reasonable adjustments. These adjustments or accommodations are changes in the job, environment, or other supports that will allow the person to perform the job and are ‘reasonable’ for the employer to make.
Discussing the potential safety risk with the employers is the first step before adjustments in job responsibilities or environment can be made.
To help improve in this regard, we introduce the EpilepsyPOWER partnership, co-funded by the European Commission within the Erasmus+ funding programme and actively driven by partner organisations in Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Ireland and France. Within 3 years updates on our results and activities shall be reported in 6 newsletters, on the official project website https://epilepsypower-project.eu, and on Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Main objectives
The ambitious objectives of EpilepsyPOWER project aim at improving people with epilepsy (PwE) opportunities of inclusion in job market. The final objective is to increase the number of people engaged in relevant corporate social responsibility epilepsy-friendly initiatives; to spread a culture and a practice for the implementation of inclusion systems for epilepsy people, based on the enhancement and valorization of their abilities; support universities, companies, micro and small enterprises in inclusion improvement.
Target groups
People with epilepsy (PwE) & Higher education institutions’ staff and end-users: professors, university staff, placement officers, students, entrepreneurs/managers attending MBA/Executive courses, adult people employed in organisations, recruiters, HR experts and recruitment agencies.
Expected results
? Operational framework and learning methodology - a methodological document guiding the development which will be preceded by knowledge transfer, literature review and target groups survey.
? Integrated online platform for digital integrated learning, multilevel cooperation and resources sharing - innovative and integrated web platform with an attractive design and available in all partners’ languages and a user-friendly project website.
? Collaborative labs for best practices – their aim is to arrange specific discussion and working labs (onsite and online) to involve the staff of the Partners with the target groups and main stakeholders of EpilepsyPOWER project. Participants will evaluate and discuss PwE needs about their employability with a particular focus on work placement opportunities, safety in workplace and communication with employer/co-workers.
? Learning contents and classroom guidelines – its main aim is to ensure a successful sectorial and country transmission by a cross-cultural approach. All the learning products developed during the EpilepsyPOWER project will be freely available online via the open access platform for everyone to use. This will be further facilitated by the fact that the 14 modules will be published online in 5 languages (EN, IT, DE, FR, BG).
? Assessment online tool and epilepsy label – Considering that the project learning modules, available in each path, will be designed and organised with a sequential logic, each participant should pass the specific module test to access to the next learning module of one of each learning path. The EpilepsyPOWER Certificate of Achievement is the final document that will certify the full completion of each learning path provided by the online platform.
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The partnership
Building a project partnership with the widest-possible geographic stretch has been one objective when planning the Epilepsy project. The core organisations involved in it bring in experience from South of Europe – Italy, East – Bulgaria, Central – Germany, as well as from North Europe – Ireland. We proudly present these partners in the following paragraphs in some words pointing you for more details onto our project website: https://epilepsypower-project.eu.
Project coordinator: LUISS LIBERA UNIVERSITA INTERNAZIONALE DEGLI STUDI
SOCIALI GUIDO CARLI, Italy (www.luiss.it) Luiss is a private university, set up during the seventies, which contributes to development of society through research, education and dialogue with stakeholders especially on the development of corporations and organisations. It includes 4 Departments - Economics and Finance, Business and Management, Political Science and Law – and encompasses a wide array of academic, extracurricular and support resources. Luiss implemented over 80 EU and international funded projects. Luiss is highly experienced in research and education on several fields: business organization, people management, business processes, business strategies, e-learning and digital education, information systems, e- government, innovation management, digital transformation, inclusion and accessibility, diversity management, SMEs and entrepreneurship.
The German partner is the emcra GmbH from Berlin (www.emcra.eu). Emcra GmbH is a leading Training and Consulting company within the field of management and funding (public, national and European). Emcra will bring in expertise in a) development of curricula, training of SME staff and b) knowledge about SMEs and soft skills for the labour market. a) Development of curricula, training of SME staff. For more than 15 years, emcra has been developing high- quality curricula for certified further education, thus, for the company’s educational offer and within the framework of various European projects.
The Bulgarian partner is CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY VRATSA SDRUZHENIE from Vratsa (www.cci-vratsa.org). The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vratsa was established in the autumn of 1991 CCI Vratsa has almost 30 years of experience in more than 70 EU and other donor funded projects implementation. has been organising ia large variety of cultural activities and involvement possibilities in three towns in the North-Western Bulgaria with local communities. They are composed of more than 3000 companies – both private and state owned. They closely cooperate with national, regional and local authorities and other non-government organisations, SMEs, academic and research bodies, as well as with business support structures and CCIs from abroad.
The second partner from Italy is UNIVERSITA CAMPUS BIO MEDICO DI ROMA from Roma (www.unicampus.it). Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma (UCBM) is a young, yet rapidly developing, private academic institution, devoted to undergraduate and postgraduate education, advanced research and provision of high-quality healthcare services with the Research Hospital. Established in 1992. A network of national and international scientific and educational partners has been continuously developed and consolidated with specific collaboration agreements over the years. The University pursues, as per statute, aims of social interest, providing a carefully planned pathway designed to ensure continuity of care for disabled people, with a particular focus on neurological impaired patients. The University Hospital includes an internationally accredited third level center for epilepsy care.
The partner from Ireland is Epilepsy Alliance Europe from Dublin (www.epilepsyallianceeurope.org). Epilepsy Allience Europe is a legal entity, registered in Europe, which represents both the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE). ILAE and IBE are well-established international organisations representing epilepsy and, more specifically, professionals for ILAE, and patients, their families and caregivers for IBE. Both organisations cover all regions of the world and are in charge of the major European, African, Eastern Mediterranean, Asian and Latin American regional congresses and international epilepsy congresses that, each year, attract several thousand participants. A list of relevant services and achievements are: to raise awareness of epilepsy and thereby reduce the stigma and discrimination that affects all aspects of the lives of those living with the disease. IBE does this through a range of activities and initiatives and also through its partnerships. 2. IBE and ILAE are in official working relations with WHO, which has facilitated a number of joint activities to improve the quality of life of persons living with epilepsy.
The partner from France is Tablissement D'enseignement Superieur Consulaire Grenoble Ecole De Management (www.grenoble-em.com). Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) is a leading actor in the field of MTI and holds 3 accreditations that distinguish the world's leading business schools: AACSB International, EQUIS, AMBA. Research activities are developed by 8 research teams and 2 doctoral programs, also thought 125 partner institutions. Born to meet the needs of regional actors, GEM stood out for its abilities to innovate, to create alliances, and to expand into new areas and expertise. Today, we focus on major societal challenges, of which inclusion represent the major one in HEIs.
Ongoing activities
Project No: 2021-1-IT02-KA220-ADU-000028349
This project is co-funded by the European Union Erasmus+, KA220-ADU - Cooperation partnerships in adult education. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein