#I had absence seizures frequently (good old CRTs and pre-Pokemon incident high rate storbe effects

[runawaycarouselhorse]

Most people recognize the jerking and convulsions of a tonic-clonic (formerly known as grand-mal) seizure, but most have no idea what absence (formerly known as petite-mal) seizures look like! They're very subtle. The child (it is a disorder of childhood—my last one was when I was around 14, after many years of no seizures... caused by the banned Powerpuff Girls Gnomey episode, the series' other shorter flashing effects never harmed me, but I appreciate streaming services warning about the effects, as they might cause seizures in other people) seems to space out, staring, and is often unresponsive. Teachers often are the first to notice it in class.

From my personal experience, I remember when I had them frequently as a child (in the "good" old days of CRT TVs and monitors, pre-Pokemon incident, when many cartoons had fast-rate flickering/strobe effects due to ignorance...), I would just be sitting, watching the screen, when suddenly, everything would become brighter and fuzzier. The screen would be too bright to see and human voices like my parents' become indistinct, like I'm hearing it underwater... I briefly forget everything and don't recognize anyone or anything. I often would get floppy and slump in my seat, but because I'm seat against the back of the chair, I think my parents generally did not notice... I sometimes stared at my hands. I wouldn't panic because I have this vague memory of these happening before, even if I forget everything else (it's funny, it's also like I only remembered these happening before when it happens again...), and then, I recover.

Maybe my parents did notice, since I stopped having them a lot while using the computer after a black, transparent piece of plastic was placed over the monitor to dim the brightness (in the older days when monitors didn't come with easy-access brightness options) to protect my eyes...

Have some infographics!