Tips, strategies, approaches, attitudes and ways to support a person living with disability in particular brain injury
Brain Myth Buster. Flickr Image by Hartwig HKD
Sorting fact from fiction. Sorting brain myth from fact, can be difficult, especially when using the internet for information. Since beginning Changed Lives New Journeys I have learned much more about many aspects of the brain, and brain injury. Researching brain myths in these past weeks I realised one of my major learnings has been “Believe no-one. Check it out for yourself.” Believe it or Not: a Brain Myth vs Fact Story The following story is to illustrate the differing views that can arise when researching facts, information, treatment, and therapies. About a year ago while researching an article on the causes of brain injury I came across a TED talk by Dr Amen entitled The most important lesson from 83,000 brain scans. I watched and I was impressed. it looked amazing and I wanted to believe it possible. I looked up a bit more about Dr Amen and thought at first I would share the talk. It seemed like…
Brain and 10 Percent Myth Image by Cynthia Blair
What’s the harm in a little brain myth? Brain injury and brain myth - how does it impact on a person living with brain injury? And what has Willy Wonka got to do with it? When talking about brain injury and brain myth with a friend, she said "Just like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We want the golden ticket. There is none." Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, is a film based on the book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” written by Roald Dahl . A small added unrelated fact - in 2014 the book is celebrating 50 years since publication. A brief summary of relevant plot: A young boy, Charlie, finds a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory. A factory where the work is kept secret from the outside world. Charlie is one of 5 children who win a golden ticket allowing access to the chocolate factory. For those of you who do not know it, the…
Flickr Image by Spencer Finnley
A simple definition of impulsivity after brain injury: Talking or acting without thinking. For a fun kind of explanation the cartoon above might help. A reminder of the impact of acting without thinking. For more detail and suggested strategies read on. What Is Impulsivity After Brain Injury? As the cartoon above demonstrates impulsive actions are those made without taking into account possible problems, and not thinking about possible consequences. While we can all be impulsive at times, impulsivity after brain injury is caused by damage to the brain, specifically the frontal lobe and it does not just go away. The mechanisms that control our ability to stop and consider, and to filter what we pay attention to, are damaged. It is important to remember the impulsive behaviour you see, is related to the damage to the brain [unordered_list style="green-dot"] it is not deliberate it may not be apparent to the person themselves it is unlikely to go away it can fluctuate,…
Image from Pixabay
Inspirational! In particular inspirational and disability (and in particularly brain injury). Who would think it could be so complicated! While "inspirational" is a word I am a bit fond of using I have discovered it is easy to misuse, and readily becomes demeaning. I was showing a friend the work of Cheryl Green and co. in Seattle on the site “Who Am I To Stop It”: "Who Am I To Stop It" is a non-inspirational documentary film on artists with brain injury. We focus on quiet observation of the featured artists. The film explores the roles that art plays in people's lives for finding peace, peace of mind, connecting to their pre-injury lives, and connecting to community." “Why non-inspirational? What’s wrong with inspirational?” I was asked by my friend. At the time I thought I gave a fairly credible summary of why NOT inspirational. Talking about valuing a person’s achievements and roles. Of not finding a person inspirational just because…
There is much being written about mindfulness and brain injury. You are likely to hear the word “mindfulness’ in all kinds of places these days. Recently sitting in a coffee lounge I overheard two men in conversation. One was explaining to the other that he had been to a business trade conference and heard a speaker talked about this “amazing new thing, mindfulness." “What is it?” Asked the other. “Oh it can help you work better. Basically it's about concentrating on the moment, on what you are doing now”. “Oh” said the other sounding fairly unimpressed. I wondered if he might have been more inspired reading a little book I was given earlier this year.Let me explain: The Gift of A Book: “Settling Back in the Moment” Early in 2014 I travelled to Sri Lanka for a holiday. A beautiful diverse country, rich in Buddhist history. I realise you are not here for a travelogue of Sri Lanka. Just a bit of…
Not being able to initiate activity and a change in levels of motivation after brain injury can be a challenging and sometimes life limiting outcome to live with. During a training session for community support workers I asked the group for the number one issue they struggled with, assisting a person living with brain injury. I had jumped ahead and assumed that number one would be either finding meaningful stuff to do, or challenging behaviour. Surprisingly, the number one issue was neither. It was the ethical dilemma of getting someone to do something they did not seem to want to do. Commonly termed lack of initiation and motivation after brain injury. How do you push someone to do something if they are not really willing to do it? How do you know when it is OK to push someone and when it is not OK? I use the word “push” here because this is how it can seem to a…
Such a grand title ‘Living with brain injury in the 21st century’. Sounds like a school essay. No. This is more a “stream of consciousness” kind of article. Less of the researched ideas and information, more me writing as my thoughts unpack. It all started when I realised I was once more overwhelmed by information and technology. I was not keeping up. I was not responding to people I wanted to contact. Not reading and listening to things I wanted to. Further highlighted when I confided to a friend, and fellow blogger that I have over 800 websites saved in the “To Be Read Later” part of my life. A few helpful tips on minimalism were gratefully accepted. It got me thinking about the impact our mass-information-modern-world, has on people (me). What about the impact on someone living with a brain injury? I guess it kind of links to the discussion about gadgets and technology last week. Impact For a Person…
Is it possible to have access to every available technique, gadget, app and technology for people with brain injury? I confess before we begin that I am being an opportunist here. I do love gadgets and technology. As part of the ever- increasing "Wow that's amazing" kind of stuff that is being developed I kept reading about different ways they were being used by, and for people with brain injury. So I have gathered links and resources rolled it up into this article. I do also have a strong view that we should be using all we have available to enable people to live a full meaningful life. For me, Wolf Wolfensberger says it all: Vastly more knowledge and technology exists about how to advance people toward their potential than is known by, or utilized in, any one service; therefore, no matter how good any service or agency is, there still may exist a better way (Wolf Wolfensberger quoted in Lemay…
Pink Rabbit Sculpture
This image inspired me to write about creativity. It reminded me that creativity is possible for each of us, whatever our talents, whatever our limitations. Sometimes it just takes someone to encourage and support us to give it a go. This all came about a while back, when visiting family. I spotted this wonderful ceramic sculpture displayed on a bookshelf. Now each time I visit, I seek it out, it captures me. I see it is a kind of stylized standing rabbit, pink, big-eyed and delightful. You can see it here for yourself. When I asked about the artist I discovered it was a 6 year old girl. My further surprise was to learn this young artist lives with a significant and serious physical disability, and vision impairment. Creative Endeavours The wonderful sculpture was created because family and supporters assisted and encouraged a young girl, with a severe disability, to be creative. I thought of other people I knew who had…
Image by Brett Jordan
If ever you get to choose your Superhero power I recommend you go for LISTENING. It can be a world changing, life changing, valuable and important power to have. And you can build this superhero power for yourself. A start here with a look at 10 quotes to stimulate thinking, tips and strategies for great listening. 1. “The difference between listening and pretending to listen, I discovered, is enormous. One is fluid, the other is rigid. One is alive, the other is stuffed. Eventually, I found a radical way of thinking about listening. Real listening is a willingness to let the other person change you. When I’m willing to let them change me, something happens between us that’s more interesting than a pair of duelling monologues.” Have you ever been involved in "duelling monologues"? I am embarrassed to confess I certainly have. Imagine how different communication would be if each of us was open to what the other person is saying.…
