Mild Brain Injury – Coping Skills
thelegaltimes.net
Many years ago I suffered a “mild brain injury” which resulted in a seizure disorder. It’s one of those hidden disabilities which are so popular in the news currently. I can function in a crowd, for short periods of time. Overload is an ongoing problem which I have used many different strategies to overcome. My comfort zone has been to avoid anything confusing, busy, noisy or new…but I am not one to give up.
Brain injury is a dilemma for those who suffer from it. You can’t take an hour to explain to people you meet what sets you off, or what overwhelms you. Most of the time you have to just do the best you can.
Some years ago I began Tae Kwon Do classes. During one of the first classes, in the midst of a class routine, I seized. I have the kind of petit mal seizures that allow me to still hear everything going on around me, but I lose the ability to respond. My instructor asked if I was all right and in a moment I was and went on with the class, slightly embarrassed that I just appeared to have something mentally wrong with me. It’s the sort of embarrassment that often defeats those with brain injury…but I prevailed.
I cleverly learned never to position myself where I could see the class in the mirrors…my mind couldn’t process the double load of visual information. I learned that even if I couldn’t absorb a complicated routine on the first run through when everyone else was getting it, the next time I would come back with the information totally processed and be fine. I learned not to panic when I couldn’t filter out the instructor’s voice in a room full of background noise. I became hyper-observant. Over time I developed very complicated coping skills all designed to hide the fact that something was “wrong” with me. I earned my black belt and a heightened control over the seizures, panic and need to withdraw which I started with.
Last summer it was sort of brought to mind again as I took my dog through agility classes. I would listen very carefully to instructions, overworking to filter out the noise around me, and then find that listening didn’t mean processing. It’s somewhat lucky I had a smart dog, she usually picked up on what expectations were before I did. We always came back strong the following class when we both were on the same page. It helped to have a dog to turn to when the overload became too much, she became a convenient time out. We would go home and I would crash, totally exhausted by having to be so hyper-attentive. Much like the exhaustion that came after a karate class.
I was proud of myself for working through coping strategies which enabled me to tackle some pretty major accomplishments. In the end, it didn’t make the brain injury disappear. In some ways it made it harder to live with. People look at the accomplishments and not the effort it took to get there against all odds.
What they don’t see is the toll those efforts took, the amount of “down time” needed to recuperate, the hours I spent in total quiet to give an overworked and low frustration level brain time to recharge. They see independence in the isolation I maintain. They don’t see the meltdowns from overload, because I maintain that isolation. They don’t see how one thing can throw me off track for days. I have learned to cover, hide, avoid and conceal very well. I have even learned it is better to be quiet, because the seizures aren’t so noticed when they do occur. I have hit upon a definition of “normal” that I can live with.
In a world where the press is finally addressing the devastation brain injury can have on an individual, I still wonder if the majority of those affected don’t follow the easier course of creatively coping with their deficits? After all, you’re not likely to advise a prospective employer of your lack of ability to concentrate or tell a potential date that you have a brain injury and sometimes have issues with emotional response. It’s not only a hidden disability, it carries with it the fear of being labeled as “different”. Social awareness is a two-edged sword when it comes to brain injury. The public has been given enough information to acknowledge it exists and not enough information to understand how profoundly it affects the individual living with it.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
http://subtlebraininjury.com :: http://brainanatomyguide.com :: http://car-accident-rain.com :: http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com :: http://vestibulardisorder.com :: http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
Service Dog Discrimination Issues
Whether that person be:
Physical Disabled – Guide, Hearing, Mobility, Medical Alert, etc.
Social/Emotional/Mental Disabled- Autism, Acute Issues (phobia to leave home, socialize, depression, etc.)
One of the sad notes in the discrimination against service dogs is the current move to enact breed specific legislation in many areas. Due to the large numbers of unwanted pit bull type dogs, many are being rehabilitated as service and therapy dogs, including impounded dogs from the Michael Vick case. Once placed in a home these highly trained dogs provide a quality of life which would be impossible otherwise. In some places, BSL allows law enforcement to physically remove and euthanize these service dogs, or, to require muzzles which inhibits the dog’s ability to perform tasks for their handlers. Many BSL laws require $1,000,000 in home owner’s insurance which is difficult for those disabled people who rely upon their service dogs.
Pit Bull type dogs are ideal for service dogs. Small and compact, they are still strong enough to pull a wheelchair and carry backpacks, their coats are easy to maintain. They have confidence to function in public but were also bred to be submissive to humans. Even Helen Keller owned a pit bull.
Because the ADA is a federal law, it should override any state or local legislation when dealing with service dogs, no matter what the breed. Restricting pit bull service dogs in some areas violates what the US Supreme court has deemed a fundamental right, the right to interstate travel. In theory, all service dogs are protected under federal law and in some states such as California, to harm a service dog is a felony. However, if you call the Department of Justice, you will receive varied responses on your inquiry as to the rights of your service dog in BSL states, or your right to travel with your service dog through areas which have BSL legislation. Legally, pit bull service dogs are protected federally, but it will be a case by case decision to decide the fate of handlers and their dogs.
According to the ADA:
BUSINESSES MAY NOT:
* Require special identification for the dog
* Ask about the person’s disabilitiy
* Charge additional fees because of the dog
* Refuse admittance, isolate, segregate, or treat this person less favorably than other patrons
The ADA defines a service animal as any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. If they meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
http://subtlebraininjury.com :: http://brainanatomyguide.com :: http://car-accident-rain.com :: http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com :: http://vestibulardisorder.com :: http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney
Seizure Dogs and Brain Injury/Seizure Disorders
When I first began my online advocacy about brain injury, one of the first issues that came to the forefront was discrimination against seizure dogs. Wal-Mart’s and the like would of course never ban a seeing eye dog, but a seizure dog? That was just a pet. I may be misappropriating credit, but I am reasonably sure that Debbie Wilson, one of our original contributors to http://waiting.com was carrying this torch in 1996. For unrelated poems of Debbie Wilson, click here.
Not long I first heard these cries on some of the seminal web TBI lists, Kimberly Carnevale was injured in a horse accident. One of the consequences of that injury was a seizure disorder. The German Shepherd, Dewey, that she had at that time had an ability to sense those seizures and warn her of the approaching danger, to assure that she could avoid additional damage of an unexpected seizure. Kimberly took her Dewey to be certified service dog, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations.
Yet like those with seizure dogs before her, Kimberly was denied access to some public areas with Dewey. This denial angered and motivated Kimberly enough to found an organization and establish a website to fight this ignorance and discrimination. The Organization is Canine and Abled, and the website is http://www.canineandabled.com/
Why does reading about that website and Kimberly at http://www.northeastcenter.com/website-of-the-month-april08.htm this morning make me think about the “invisible disability?” Because it is the invisible nature of brain injury and seizure disorders that accounts for that discrimination. No one would consider banning a seeing eye dog because the disability is so obvious to an observer. Likewise, no one would ban a wheelchair, for the same reasons. To deny someone a cane, is equally ridiculous. But, a dog, with a normal walking and talking person: that just seems like someone who wants to sneak their pet in.
I applaud Kimberly and her organization. Education is the key. In a sense, Dewey now makes Kimberly’s disability visible, if people are educated to understand his role. His role is as a prosthesis, an assistive device (not to inanimate Dewey) that will assist a disabled person, in a way not so dissimilar from a wheelchair, an artificial limb, to make their way in the world.
Later this week: Identifying and diagnosing the “invisible injury” and the need for other prosthetic aids for brain injury survivors.
Attorney Gordon Johnson
Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
http://subtlebraininjury.com :: http://brainanatomyguide.com :: http://car-accident-rain.com :: http://tbilaw.com
http://waiting.com :: http://vestibulardisorder.com :: http://youtube.com/profile?user=braininjuryattorney