Korean Job Discussion Forums

[schwa]

[recessiontime]

[jvalmer]

If you have one seizure in public, they'll probably end your contract pretty fast.

[Daelim]

I feel the need to reply as most of these posts are discouraging. Although, they are mostly correct, I have known someone who worked here for 3 years with a seizure disorder. I am not 100% sure, but I think she was open and honest about it. She went to a neurologist at a university hospital, and was able to receive appropriate medication there. She has had to leave early from work for appointments, and she has had seizures during the night and subsequently took the morning off work. She worked at a private elementary school in Daegu. Although, the above posters are correct in saying that Koreans are not very forgiving (in general) of health conditions and taking time off work, I wouldn't completely write it off as something that you can't do. Also, you don't have to limit yourself to Seoul, like I said she lived in Daegu. As long as you are in a city, you should be able to find appropriate medical care. My advice would be to make sure you go a while without any seizures before applying (then you can honestly say it is under control) And be honest about it, right from the get go, if they have a problem with it, they won't hire you and it will save you and them some headaches down the road. Might take you longer to find a job, but the extra time/ effort will be worth it if this is something you really want to do.

[Justinian]

Ok, so I'm definitely getting that Koreans have little tolerance for health issues, especially seizures.

The bottom line is that if I have a seizure, I'm out. Even if I don't have a seizure, I'll probably eventually be found out by a neurologist or by a medical test even before I enter the country.

I guess the best course of action is for me to become seizure free for a year and half more and try to get off the anti-seizure medicine for a year after that. The problem is I don't know if I will be able to hold on financially to do that. We'll see how it goes.

To answer the question about what type of seizures, nobody has been around to see them but from my research they are clearly tonic-clonic. I'm not an "epileptic" in the traditional sense. I'm 26, no family history of seizures and these seizures started only last year because I was exposed to pesticides (long story).

I'm now on natural medicine recommended by a chiropractor I've gone to for years as well as Zonisamide (it was released in Korea and Japan first so I'm assuming it's still available in Korea) prescribed by a neurologist so I would be surprised if I had another seizure again but you never know. I could have another seizure.

The world is a big place. I'm assuming there are other countries that have less stringent health requirements for teaching ESL. I'm going to be posting something about this on the International Job board if anybody is interested.

[rphares]

This is an old topic, but it is very relevant to my current situation.

I take medication for epilepsy, but I have been seizure free for 7 years (I was in high school when I had my last seizure and the one before that was in elementary school). I am cleared to drive and everything. My neurologist can certainly provide the documentation to say that I have been seizure free for that long. He greatly advises that I am not taken off medication, though. I also have always had a clean EEG.

One school interviewed me and told me that my medication/condition disqualifies me under school policy. I asked him if that means I will be unable to find a job in SK, and he told me that some schools may allow it. I asked another school and even emailed immigration, and they said they are unsure if I will be able to get my visa issuance. I was advised to get a doctor's note and also a note from my future employer.

Earlier today, I was offered a job, and I told him about my medication and medical history upfront. I can't lie about the medication since it shows a false positive for PCP. He told me that it was fine as far as he knows since I am healthy now.

Do you guys think that this guy just doesn't know what he's talking about?

[ttompatz]

2 options:

a) lie about it on your self medical and visa application forms (visa fraud), get the visa and deal with the consequences later (you may or may not be sent home at your expense when you fail the medical).

b) tell the truth and be denied the visa.

pick one.

.

[rollo]

It is a liability issue. You are asking for the Korean healthcare system to be responsible for your healthcare. to do that they need honesty, since it is tax payers funds.

Best options is to disclose the issue , I doubt you would receive a job. but it is worth a chance.

[young_clinton]

[young_clinton]

[rockbilly]

OP,

You must absolutely ignore the know-nothings who've posted here advising you not to come to Korea. They know nothing. NOTHING.

Everything in this world is negotiable--more so in Korea than in most places.

If you teach well, you WILL be needed and wanted here.

I can't promise, of course, that it will be all smooth sailing.

What I can promise is that there are certainly at least SOME people here--I mean bosses, coworkers--people you'll deal with in the workplace--who will be sympathetic and understanding.

This world is not as heartless a place as some people like to imagine. This country isn't.

There's certainly a place for you in this world--as there is for EVERYONE, regardless of disabilities or afflictions--and that place may WELL be here in Korea.

Whether you're upfront or not about your condition--that's your call.

But don't let anyone tell you that you can't. You can!

P.S. I write from years and years of experience living and working in this country--from kindie hakwon to business English, to public high school and middle school, to the corporate world (where I am now). Believe me, not them. Everything is negotiable; something will work out for you, if you want it to, I promise.

P.P.S. I have temporal lobe epilepsy. How do I live with TLE?--I manage. Everyone's got something he or she has to manage. That's life--don't sweat it too much. Life is sweet. We're all gonna be OK.

[Paddycakes]

Students: "Teacher, what do you think about Kimchie?"

Teacher starts having a violent seizure...


Sorry, man, you're playing Russian roulette here, and one day you will get burnt.

Your story won't end well...

[rphares]

Well, to update on my situation, I did get in touch with a recruiting agency run by Canadian nationals. He told me that obtaining a visa shouldn't be a problem and that the problem lies in employers not wanting to take a risk with an unhealthy employee. They can be very picky since there are so many applicants and not even consider the ones with health issues.

Also, I don't think that a lot of people in this thread realize that many drugs can give false positives for drug tests. Some medications won't show up on drug tests, though, so if people want to lie about it, I'd suggest reading up on your specific drug online.

So far, I have had a couple job offers even though I have been completely upfront about my medical condition. Several of the people in this thread have been saying that your application will be tossed as soon as you tell them you are on anti-seizure medication, and that is a lie. Only one school has denied me right away, but the others have asked to discuss it in more detail and seemed okay with it since I can provide documentation that I have been seizure free for 7 years. OP said he has only been seizure free for 5 months, so I don't know if that even means anything.

[smkndofpnutdssrt]

I know this is a super old thread, but I'm hoping people are still alive out there and can answer me.

So here's my situation. I have very mild epilepsy. I had one grand mal 12 years ago, and the rest of them have been only petit mal that last for maybe 2 seconds. But as long as I am taking my medication I don't have them. And if for some reason I do, they're not really noticeable and don't affect my work at all.

I'm going through several recruiters and, not thinking it was this big of a deal, I made the mistake of telling one of them about it, and if I remember correctly he said it should be fine (I think he was new. He had just replaced someone that quit). So time goes by and I get responses from all the recruiters with positions they want to recommend me for. Except for this guy. And he had talked in our Skype interview about some openings in Nowon, which is where I wanted to be because my best friend lives there. So I emailed and asked him what the deal was. He told me that he submitted my resume to several schools and they all rejected me because he was obligated by law to tell them of any health conditions he knew of. And he tried explaining that it was controlled by medication, but they didn't care.

At that point I had already had two back-to-back interviews through other recruiters, one in Namyangju and the other in Gangnam, and within an hour they both offered me positions. So after reading this miserable thread here and talking to friends and family, I decided to try telling one of the schools about my condition to test it out.

So I messaged the owner of the school in Namyangju, and without hesitation he said, "as long as you are enthusiastic and love kids, it doesn't matter." But he then added that he would have to talk to the hospital and see if I could pass the health check if the school was okay with it. I'm still waiting to hear from him.

So my question is, if the school doesn't care and they let the hospital doing the health screening know, will I be okay? Or will they fail me anyways? And if so, will that be the case all across Korea? Do they distinguish between different levels of epilepsy or is epilepsy just epilepsy to them?

[ttompatz]

There are several issues at play here:

School willingness to take a chance on you.
- some will, some won't.
Passing the medical (government requirement)
- your guess is as good as mine. You get sent home at your expense if you fail.
Passing the drug screen (government requirement)
- depends on the meds you are taking. Then there is the side issue of bringing enough meds to last a while until you can see a physician here to get refills.
Getting the E2 visa and the medical questions on the visa application form.
- Do you lie to save problems (visa fraud) or be truthful and potentially be denied a visa at the consulate?

There is no one answer fits all for you.
This isn't home and discrimination is both rampant and legal.

.