A tonic-clonic seizure is the type most people picture: the body stiffens, then jerks rhythmically, and the person is unconscious throughout. Most last between one and three minutes. The response is to time it, protect the person from injury, avoid restraining them, place them in the recovery position once the movements stop, and call 999…

In short: Around a fifth to a quarter of people with a learning disability also have epilepsy, compared with roughly 1 in 100 of the general population, and their seizures are far more likely to resist treatment. The 2024 LeDeR annual report found epilepsy accounted for 9.4% of avoidable deaths among adults with a learning…