I don't want your sympathy, I want your understanding. I don't want your money, I want the benefit of your wisdom. I don't want hand-outs, I do want a hand up – I want you to help me help myself.

That's how Luke Bright's CV would probably read, that would be his pitch to a prospective employer should he luck an interview.

The proof's in the pudding – Luke with his coffee table. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

They are the words of a man who desperately wants a job… or job experience.

And Luke hopes with all the upbeat talk about the job market in Bay of Plenty, there might be a slot for him; an opportunity with an employer who recognises his potential and will take a chance.

There's a 'but”… and in Luke's case it's a big 'but”.

He's epileptic. He suffers ‘electrical storms' in the brain. It's a curse for Luke, but a manageable curse.

For the uninitiated, a ‘grand mal' or ‘tonic-clonic' seizure can be scary. Luke, for example, can lose consciousness and suffer violent muscle contractions.

Sometimes he recovers immediately, other times he needs bed and rest.

'But it does not mean I am incapable, incompetent or an idiot,” he explains. 'It does not mean I cannot work.”

And there's payback, some incentives for the would-be employer.

'I will work for nothing,” he says. 'And I will work as long and as hard as I need to learn some skills to make myself productive.”

Luke is on a $300 a week benefit – but he doesn't want to be on hand-outs and he doesn't like talking about it. He wants to be useful and pay his own way.

It's a commendable work ethic but one which employers haven't embraced - yet.

Luke has a forceful PR team on his case. Mum Jo gave up her job eight months ago to help Luke in his search for a job.

'I've been knocking on doors all over town but those doors just slam shut,” she says.

For example, she went to the Salvation Army – no, they only take school-leavers.

She went to The Men's Shed – no, they only take men 65-plus.

It's so frustrating,” says Jo. But a career in marketing has served her well – she's leaping into print, advertising for an unpaid training opportunity for Luke.

'Help me to help you,” the ad goes.

Luke suffered encephalitis, inflammation of the brain, as an 11-year-old and that's when the seizures started.

Today, 20 years later, Luke is a tall, lean, proud and handsome young man – but life dealt him a cruel blow and he's still a bit stunned and against the ropes. The head drops.

'I get annoyed and depressed because no-one's taking me seriously, no-one's taking me on. I have so much time to sit around and worry about myself. That's a sure fire recipe for another seizure.”

But he doesn't let epilepsy completely dictate – he's fit and strong, walks for a couple of hours each day and last Saturday night, Valentine's Day, he took girlfriend Amie to dinner and the hot pools.

The night ended unceremoniously with another seizure. But that's living with epilepsy.

'Yeah – Amie's getting used to it. First time it happened it I scared her and she panicked.”

But sitting square in the middle of the Bright's lounge in Judea is a constant reminder of where Luke has been and where he wants to go. It's a coffee table. The head comes up again and a 32-year-old face is swamped with delight and pride.

'I made it.” And he'd like to make a lot more coffee tables. He wants to work for a builder or a furniture maker. 'You don't have to pay me, just teach me.”

But then come obvious questions about health and safety surrounding a man who suffers violent, unrestrained episodes working around electrical tools and machines. What employer will buy that?

Mum Jo returns the fire. 'This is a young man who goes swimming, who goes fishing. He doesn't hide from his epilepsy, he lives with epilepsy.

'And when he is active and his mind is active, then he is absolutely fine.”

And after all he did hold down a job as a tiler for six years before he got laid off in the downturn.

'I would have seizures and the boss would bring me home, put me to bed and say ‘see you tomorrow',” says Luke. And he invariably did see him at work the following day.

But it's become his Mum's life's work to change attitudes about epilepsy.

Jo senses workplace preconceptions and prejudices. 'There are a lot of people with a lot of issues in the workplace. Epilepsy is just one of them and it's a very small one.”

Will that be enough to get Luke the break he wants, the break he deserves?

Jo chants the Epilepsy New Zealand mantra in support: 'See the person, not the condition”.

If you can help Jo and Luke email them at: jobright21@hotmail.com or call SunLive reporter Hunter Wells on: 07 557 0500.