by the legal times staff
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
EDITORS NOTE: Yesterday, we talked about the “invisible injury” nature of brain injury, specifically with respect to public recognition of the role of seizure dogs. I had intended to next write about seeing the invisible, thru following the patterns of the footprints, but have decided to wait for that until tomorrow. I received this comment on seizure dogs from one of my readers, and felt it should go next.
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.
Thank you Becca for this fine contribution. And of course, if other readers would like to add something in response to any of my blogs, I will consider posting their comments here as well.
Well it is a bit off topic, the lawyer and the dog person in me, can’t really resist jumping in on this topic. I have been a poodle person for years, yet the best dog I know resembles a cross between a border collie and a lab. She is sort of black, with just enough white on her face to look like she has a little border collie coming thru. She has web feet and loves to retrieve. She has the border collies energy and intelligence, with the goofy affectionate people bonding people you might expect to see in a good lab. The so-called experts tell me this dog is a Pit Bull. I know dogs and this is a good dog.
In law school I learned the principles of legislation and discrimination. The lay person thinks that discrimination is a bad thing, because the term is usually applied to racial or religious issues. But all laws discriminate. The theory of a law is you define legal versus illegal conduct, based upon a definition of some type. That definition is a discrimination. Now the legal issue is whether that form of discrimination is legal or constitutional. Unconstitutional discrimination primarily includes discrimination against race or religion, and certain other protected activities. But a discrimination while appearing constitutional, can still be illegitimate if it serves no rational state interest.
A law serves no legitimate state interest if the stated basis of the law is irrational as applied to the class against which the discrimination is aimed. I would not argue that the state does not have an interest in controlling unsafe animals. I would not advocate a law that allowed tigers to roam free. A law that prohibited predatory SPECIES of animals to be off leash in a dog park, is certainly legitimate. I do not want my dog eaten by a mountain lion.
But all dogs are the same species – the DNA of different breeds are virtually indistinguishable. It is an old cliche: there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. I wouldn’t go quite that far. There are some bad dogs, just like there are some bad people. But I can’t accept that there are any bad breeds. But let us assume that there was a particular breed, lets call them the Saber Dog breed, that was in fact a universally dangerous animal. Now in my artificial world, all Saber Dogs would have fangs like a saber tooth tiger, and since no other dogs have such teeth, we would know they were dangerous animals on sight, and we would have a rational law that could be applied.
But the similarities between breeds are staggering. As well as I know dogs, I am still not convinced that my favorite dog is really a Pit Bull. If she is a Pit Bull, she is the second Pit Bull I have known well who was smart, playful and liked to run around until she dropped chasing and being chased by other dogs. So based upon my experience, that makes her breed a good, pleasurable breed to own or just spectate.
I challenge anyone to define a law prohibiting Pit Bulls that can be enforced on a visual inspection that is not at risk for being overly broad and excluding “safer” breeds. How much do you have to mix with a boxer, or a lab, or a rottweiler to make them look a little too much like a Pit Bull?
I do believe there are bad dogs, but I am convinced that 90% of the problems with dogs stems from the dogs not getting to run around freely at times and not getting to play with other dogs. A dog park solves both of those problems. Not allowing a breed which the regulators have identified as potentially being dangerous, to engage in the kind of activity which would reduce their danger, is totally irrational.
In summary, dogs are wonderful animals. Something about their DNA as a species gives them a special bond with human beings. They will become your best friend, if you allow them. But that trait is spec
ies specific, not breed specific. Breeding is almost entirely about looks, not temperment. The best dogs are often mutts. In fact, all dogs are essentially mutts. You only get into trouble breeding dogs when you interbreed them. No law can be defined to discriminate between the good dogs and the bad dogs. To base a discrimination on whether this particular “regulator” thinks they look too much like a dangerous dog breed, is positively Un-American. Especially when you consider the breed is named “American Pit Bull Terriers.”
And that is my humble opinion.
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
I have never been a big fan of the politically correct terms when discussing brain injury, hence my own coining of the term ©Subtle Brain Injury in 1999. See http://subtlebraininjury.com Having served on several boards where all they did was argue about what were the appropriate 30 words to put in a mission statement or policy statement, I have had a resistance to many of the pronouncements to come out of brain injury groups. But today’s blog does plagiarize one of those catchwords for brain injury “the invisible injury”. Credit for this phrase probably belongs to the Brain Injury Association of America. While again, this was never my favorite phrase, as so many disabilities are invisible, with respect to issue with seizure dogs, it rings so true.
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
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