Living with a brain injury and being Misunderstood, Maligned and Manipulated Part 1
Posted by Second Chance to Live on October 12, 2010
Hello and welcome back to Second Chance to Live. I am happy to see that you decided to stop by to visit with me. Thank you. Last night my friend Craig Sicilia presented a topic on Brain Injury Radio that spoke to a topic that has been and is a source of frustration – at times — for me. Like many of the guests who appeared on Craig’s Radio program, I have been misunderstood, maligned and subsequently abandoned because of the invisible nature of my disability – because I experienced a traumatic brain injury.
After the accident in 1967 and my physical wounds healed – my skull filled in where the fracture occurred and I was taken out of the full body cast to set my fractured left femur – I started to appear “normal” once again. As I was able to teach myself how to walk, talk, read, write, speak in complete sentences I was main streamed back into grammar school with my 5th grade class. Once I started back to grammar school no further consideration was taken into account concerning how the injury to my brain would impact the rest my life, my relationships and my well-being.
In 1967 there was little know about traumatic brain injury or the treatment of a traumatic brain injury.
Nevertheless, during the course of the next 43 years – I was 10 years old at the time of my traumatic brain injury – I have experienced being misunderstood, maligned, scoffed at, excluded, shunned, snubbed, reviled, ostracized, minimized, marginalized, dismissed, discounted, hindered, blackballed, scorned, spurned, disparaged, chastised, reprimanded, berated, criticized, threatened, reproached, denigrated, rejected and abandoned both personally and professionally, largely because of impact of my traumatic brain injury.
To read Part 2 of this article, please click Here
Note:
In the event that you have not and are interested in learning more about my journey during these 43 years please read my 7 part series, My Journey thus Far.
If you have not already read Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 of this series, please do so to understand the context of Part 1. Thank you.
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This entry was posted on October 12, 2010 at 5:44 pm and is filed under ABI: Acquired Brain Injury, abuse and neglect, abuse and trauma, Acquired Brain Injury, acquired brain injury and feeling alienated, adult children of alcoholics and traumatic brain injuries, Adult Children of Alcoholics living with traumatic / acquired brain injuries, brain injured soldiers, Brain Injury, Brain Injury caused by exlosions, Brain Injury Concussions and Sports, Brain Injury Education, Caregivers, Caregivers for people with traumatic / acquired brain injuries, celebrities with brain injuries, characteristics of traumatic brain injury, Closed Head Injury, combating brain injury isolation, Department of Veteran Affairs, Empowerment and Inspirational Speaker, Empowerment Speaker, Families impacted by brain injuries, flash explosion leading to brain Injury, Fulfilling your Destiny, head injury, Invisible Disability, Learning, learning disabilities, Learning to Accept Yourself as a brain injury survivor, Learning to Love Yourself as a brain injury survior, Life, life challenging experiences, living life on life's terms, living my destiny, living with a brain injury, Living with a Disability, Living with a Invisible Disability and feeling shame, living with a traumatic / acquired brain injury, Living with a traumatic brain injury and feeling shame, Living with an Invisible Disability, living with meaning and purpose, messages of hope and inspiration, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Personell impacted by Traumatic Brain Injuries, Military Traumatic Brain Injury Support Meetings, Motivaional Speaker, Motivational / Inspirational Speaker, No Longer a Victim, Overcome Being Bullied, Overcoming Societal Stigmatization, Parents of children with Acquired brain injuries, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Post Traumatic Syndrome and Suicide, PTSD, Revealing your Destiny, Self-Respect and Significance, Soldiers and Marines who sustained traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injury, stroke, Suicide and Hope, tbi adults, tbi children, tbi families, tbi veterans, traumatic / acquired brain injury, Traumatic / Acquired Brain Injury and Anger, Traumatic Brain and Comfort, Traumatic Brain Injury and being Bullied, Traumatic Brain Injury and Comfort, traumatic brain injury and frustration, Traumatic Brain Injury and Hope, Traumatic Brain Injury and Significance, Traumatic Brain Injury and What is my Destiny?, Traumatic Brain Injury and You, traumatic brain injury feeling alienated isolated, traumatic brain Injury in adults, Traumatic Brain Injury in children, Traumatic Brain Injury Research and Resources, Traumatic Brain Injury Self-Esteem and Self-Worth, Traumatic Brain Injury Support Groups / Meetings, traumatic brain injury treatment, Veterans Living with Brain Injuries, What is my Destiny?. Tagged: Maligned and Manipulated, Misunderstood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
