Involuntary deviance: schooling and epileptic children

There exists in schools an unwritten set of presuppositions defining "normalcy." Students going beyond these boundaries of normalcy are encouraged (sometimes punitively) to change their behaviors. However, there is a growing awareness that not all children going beyond normalcy do so willingly. The phenomenon here termed "involuntary deviance" represents a way of perceiving and dealing with special students. An example, the case of children with epilepsy, is presented to illustrate the need for health educators and other educators to be familiar with such medical problems and, among their students, to help decrease the social stigma attached to some of these conditions. This need will become more urgent as the practice of mainstreaming students becomes increasingly prevalent.