Nicole Da Silva (maiden name Asta) has been living with epilepsy since before she applied for her first job. Diagnosed at age 12, she has yet to find a treatment that effectively controls her seizures. In 2017, Nicole added a VNS to her regimen of medications. It has been successfully slowing down the number of seizures Nicole has, but it still has not controlled the seizures. Nicole currently takes five medications to try to provide any control.

Epilepsy isn’t something Nicole is afraid to talk about. She has been connected with Epilepsy Toronto for years (2007 onwards), taking part in the Be Heard public education program when she was younger and helping to facilitate a panel discussion for parents of newly diagnosed children. Through Epilepsy Toronto, as of 2026, Nicole has been a mentor to five people with epilepsy, and has been connected with a mentor herself.

Despite being an intelligent, well-educated person, she struggled to find work in her field, Human Resources, a struggle that was complicated by epilepsy. When she finally connected with Epilepsy Toronto’s employment team, she started with an employment assessment and then began developing her job search skills. This led to Nicole broadening the scope of work opportunities she considered: customer service, client support, administration, marketing coordinator, all with elements of recruitment involved.

“I wanted anything related to recruitment,” she says. Nicole needed help developing the skills and contacts to land the job. Simple things like one of Epilepsy Toronto’s Job Developers reworking her resume made a big difference. “Since the change in my resume, I have been able to, on my own, create numerous forms of resumes for different genres of work!”

“It was magic,” says Nicole. “He has the knowledge of how to do interviews properly, how to get someone on your side.” She says the networking connections he offered made a big difference. After sending her frequent job postings and suggestions about potential employers, he connected Nicole with a contact at Scotiabank, just in time to apply for an available contract position.

“I was the last resume in, and I got the position!” she says. The job has her carrying out a variety of tasks you would see in a recruitment department and has given her the chance to develop skills and job shadow for future opportunities. It has turned out to be a work environment that is highly supportive of the challenges of living with seizures. “Out of all the jobs I have had in the past, this has been my favourite. I also met two of my closest friends here!”

Nicole has asked for, and received, a few straightforward accommodations: shifting her work hours back to prevent sleep deprivation, using visual notes for instructions, and choosing a particular seat during meetings.

“Rooms with lots of people, where it’s hot, and I feel claustrophobic, are one of my seizure triggers, so I go and check out the room beforehand, and if need be, I sit by the door in case,” she says.

She has a simple message for employers looking to hire someone with epilepsy. “Don’t be afraid of the possible challenges you may think that person has, because those challenges may not be as large as you think. Give them a chance”.