Gerard Durkan is a student of fine art. He is frantically running around getting an exhibition of his work mounted for end-of-year assessments. He doesn't have much time to think about the fact that he's had epilepsy since he was 11 years old.
"I can just forget about it now and get on with my life," he says. "I don't see it stopping me from doing what I want to do." He admits that he had a very different attitude three years ago.
His life, he says, was turned around by doing a course, "Training For Success", run specifically for young people with epilepsy. It is the only course of its kind in Ireland or Europe and is run in Sligo in conjunction with Brainwave - The Irish Epilepsy Foundation.
Gerard (22), from Swinford, Co Mayo, says he didn't really enjoy his time at secondary school. He was taking medication and felt drowsy a lot of the time and found it hard to stay focused. He did quite well but left without any career plans. He thought he might end up working in a pub or a factory.
The "Training for Success" course is designed to prepare young people for further education or for the workplace. It is also open to people with other disabilities, such as brain injuries.
A leaflet outlining the course content states frankly that "the combination of having epilepsy and looking for employment is not easy".
Areas covered in the course include career development and planning, social skills in the workplace, information technology, creative writing, drama, art, Spanish, health and fitness, and media studies. Students are encouraged to take part in sport and social activities in the Institute of Technology where it is taught, and it also includes an eight-week period of work experience in a local company.
It is funded by the European Social Fund through FÁS.
"I came out of myself. Now I am my own person - I am not trying to do the same as other people. I just do my own thing, and if people don't like it, it's not my problem," Gerard says.
He says his classmates also benefited a lot from the course. Many of them have also gone on to do other courses in computers or health and fitness, he says.
In school, whenever he had a seizure, there was a big fuss made and it was talked about for hours later, an experience he describes as "very annoying". On the course, if somebody had a seizure it was forgotten about within minutes.
He says he is now more "alive" than he ever was. He loves the fine art course he is doing - he is very interested in photography but will concentrate on painting. He has also kept up the creative writing he started while doing "Training For Success".
After completing his degree he hopes to travel to Spain, France and Greece. Nobody could possibly doubt him when he says: "I think now I can get on with the rest of my life."
For information on "Training For Success", write to the course manager at the Institute of Technology in Sligo or phone 071- 55303.