When we think of James Madison, three things immediately come to mind. First, he was the Father of the United States Constitution. Second, he was the author of the Bill of Rights. Third, he was an intellectual giant. What is not well known, however, (except among scholars) is that he was also disabled.
Of himself, Madison wrote he had:
a constitutional tendency to sudden attacks somewhat resembling epilepsy which suspended all intellectual function…. They continued throughout my life with prolonged intensity.
His brother-in-law described his condition as a:
constitutional liability to sudden attacks… of a character and effect which suspended his powers of action.
In 1775, at the age of 24, Madison suffered one of his “attacks” while training with the colonial militia in Virginia. He was sent home and prevented from serving during the Revolutionary War. It seems his disability saved him for a higher calling.
The nature of his medical condition has long been a subject of debate amongst scholars and medical practitioners. Some believe he suffered “epileptoid hysteria,” a psychological condition; however, the general consensus is that he was an epileptic who suffered partial complex or petit mal seizures.
Disability does not always mean impairment. There is a very long list of epileptics who changed the course of human history, including: Sir Isaac Newton, Napoleon Bonaparte, Harriet Tubman, Leo Tolstoy, Agatha Christie, Ludwig von Beethoven and Socrates.
The Father of the United States Constitution was brilliant and disabled. Or, perhaps James Madison was able to conceive the foundations of the greatest nation on Earth because he was disabled. That’s something to keep in mind…