March 12th, 2016 is Suddenly Sleepy Saturday, a day to help spread awareness about people living with narcolepsy. I’m heartened to learn about this campaign, because far too many Americans are still ignorant about the disease!
They don’t realize that narcolepsy is a REAL neurological disease that affects the sleep/wake cycle of approximately 200,000 people in the United States alone.
In its severest form, it deprives people of the ability to function; certain sufferers can experience symptoms of psychosis! You would, too, if you were constantly deprived of restful sleep. It’s been estimated that fewer than 25% of sufferers aren’t on treatment, which makes me wonder about the number of people who have narcolepsy and don’t know it!
The thing is, right here, right now, there are 100s, if not 1000s, of students who are NEEDLESSLY targeted and bullied by their peers. Worse yet, their own teachers seem hell-bent to embarrass them, because they think they’re either lazy, dumb, or have a bad attitude!
But it could be far worse.
Imagine this scenario:
Yesterday, your 17-year-old daughter Lilly, fell asleep in English class AGAIN and was humiliated by her teacher, who calls you AGAIN for the umpteenth time, complaining that Lilly is inattentive in class! She says Lilly has been disrespecting HER and the other students because she keeps falling asleep! Yack! Yack! Yack!
As her mother, you’ve noticed that Lilly has been falling asleep a lot and seems to be having a hard time at school. You wonder if she’s hanging around with the wrong crowd, maybe smoking a little weed, or is spending too much time on social media. You don’t want to be a nag, ’cause Lilly carries enough baggage from your divorce. So, that’s why you convince yourself not to step in just yet.
But today…in this sad scenario…things are different. You’ve given Lilly the keys to your car to drive to school, because she missed the bus this morning. After all, as her “forgiving mother,” you know she didn’t sleep much last night—but it was probably because she stayed up late to cram for an exam. So after a loving smooch and sending her on her way, Lilly gets into the driver’s seat and clicks in the seat belt. She’ll be back in six hours, she promises. And off she goes.
But 20 minutes later, just as she pulls into the parking lot of the school, she falls asleep at the wheel and crashes into a school bus, killing herself and injuring three other students.
Could you see this happening?
Narcolepsy is real, and it needs to be taken seriously.
Click here, here, and here to learn more about narcolepsy in the classroom.
