Epilepsy, how should I handle this?

[supermum98]

Hi there, my ds. came home very distressed Friday, asked by Senco to come to office and told he was to not lock the door, when he goes to the loo. No explanation was given, I can only assume that as he suffers from epilepsy, that in the rare event he has a seizure, they can get to him quickly. He is outraged, it wasn't explained to him why and the door was left open, so he was mortified that his friends could have heard the conversation. He has 1:1 TA support and he says people often try the door of the loo when he is in it.
He is a very private person.
Has your epileptic dc ever been told this? My ds hasn't had a tonic-clonic seizure for 3 years and only has abcences and occasional petit-mal.

Hi supermum, I would challenge this. It is discriminating not to mention potentially a huge invasion of his privacy!!!
Having epilepsy is IMO does not justify what they are asking. For goodness sake even hospital wards have locks on the bathrooms, a simple coin will open the lock if needed. It seems to me that they are overthinking things. :)

You absolutely must challenge this. They must have locks which can be opened from the outside and if they don't they need to get some.

If they can't afford him the basic level of privacy he would have by locking the door they need to agree that a TA will take him to the toilet and hold the door for him.

There is no way that telling him to leave the door open is appropriate and I would take this one all the way. They are leaving him open to dreadful humiliation!

Hi I have epilepsy and they changed the lock on one toilet door from a bolt to one that could be opened from outside by a coin or similar in case I had a seizure in toilet. Tell them it's ridiculous he's a growing lad and that it's wayyyyy to big an ask to expect this of him!! If my school could forward think to change a lock 20 years ago then I'm sure his can in this day and age!

Thanks guys, my path is now clear, steel myself for yet another challenging chat, I feel more confident about my stance on this now, wish me luck!!

Good luck!

If it's any help I've just written a letter about my DD's school who have arranged for her to have privacy while changing for PE because of high anxiety about privacy. Unfortunately the teacher has decided that a toilet cublicle is an appropriate place for her to change so her clothes will be all over the filthy floor and she's bound to drop something in the toilet! To say nothing of her fear of germs and sensory issues around smells even in the classroom!

I hope we both get the responses we need tomorrow!