What started as a school project for Erin Murphy has become a cause that could help thousands of students living with epilepsy.

During Erin's last year at Ōtūmoetai College she was tasked with making a campaign for her sociology class.

The 17-year-old knew of friends and family with epilepsy so decided to create a petition calling for a government policy mandating epilepsy inclusion and education in schools.

The petition is asking the House of Representatives to urge the Government to make epilepsy education, training and awareness mandatory in schools from primary through to university.

Last September, Erin had an online meeting with similar-aged people who have epilepsy as part of her research.

'One of the girls said she got judged at school and people avoided her because they thought epilepsy was contagious,” says Erin.

Erin discovered other students weren't aware of what to do if someone had a seizure at school either.

'I want to make New Zealand students who are living with epilepsy, no matter how bad their symptoms are, feel more accepted in school rather than judged or isolated.”

'I want them to know that if they were to have an unexpected seizure they are in a safe environment.”

According to Epilepsy New Zealand one in 50 people have epilepsy at some point in their life.

It is a common neurological disorder that affects one-two per cent of the population.

People affected have recurring and spontaneous seizures that are due to bursts of electrical activity in the brain.

Epilepsy has many causes including severe head injury, stroke, brain tumour, a genetic condition and in many cases the cause is unknown.

Through her petition Erin has connected with the Epilepsy New Zealand CEO Ross Smith and Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller.

Erin hopes to head to Wellington to present the petition to parliament or Todd will arrange to do it on her behalf.

Erin says at first it was 'a bit daunting” working with Ross and Todd but they've been really supportive and although the petition feels like a full-time job at times, it's worth it.

'If the petition goes through and they pass it, and epilepsy education becomes mandatory then those students can get the help they need.”

Her mother Lisa is extremely proud of the work Erin has put in. 'It's not just people with epilepsy it affects, it's their families as well,” says Lisa.

'It means families are able to cope better because they don't have the worry of people at school causing problems with their family member.

'Not only that, it actually changes lives into the future about how people living with epilepsy feel about themselves.”

Erin's petition, which closes April 1, 2022, is available by searching ‘Erin Murphy epilepsy' at: www.parliament.nz