By Deron Hamel

For Alex Johnson, the phrase “Epilepsy: Hidden, Not Rare” resonated with him when he saw it printed across a sweater at the Epilepsy Shop, Epilepsy Ontario’s online store.

Alex, who is living with epilepsy, says he felt a personal connection with the message, which prompted him to buy the sweater.

“The message reminded me that lots of people couldn’t see (my epilepsy), but I knew it existed,” Alex tells Voices of Epilepsy. “This was a message that really caught me.”

There were shirts and sweaters with other messages, but Alex says that one stood out most for him.

“It was a message that people needed to see and understand; it’s a message that should be reaching the public,” he says. “It’s not necessarily me saying something about myself, but it is something I am saying to the public.”

The Epilepsy Shop was launched in 2020 and sells an array of colourful T-shirts and hoodies embossed with campaign names to help support local epilepsy agencies and raise awareness of seizure disorders.

Customers can find regular T-shirts, women’s cut T-shirts or hoodies in a variety of colours and sizes. Every item is created on demand to eliminate waste, and all profits support epilepsy services and programs.

Alex says he would like to see more apparel with messaging directed at the public at large, which he believes would be a helpful way to increase epilepsy awareness.

He suggests that adding phrases like “There are Many Different Types of Seizures” or “One in 100” – a reference to the number of Canadian adults estimated to be living with epilepsy – would further educate the public.

This sort of messaging, Alex adds, is prominent on social media or in pamphlets during March – Epilepsy Awareness Month – but not throughout the rest of the year.

“The other 11 months of the year, nobody will know, nobody will see it on social media, but there is an opportunity to (send these messages) with shirts,” he says.

Click here to visit the Epilepsy Shop.