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BrainLine News - January 2010
Happy New Year! To kick off 2010, here are resources on assistive technologies and other information that can help people with brain injury and their families.
Assistive technology can help level the playing field for people with disabilities by providing a different way to fully engage in life's activities. For example, people with a brain injury may use an electric wheelchair, a voice output device, or a modified computer mouse to help them at home, work, and in their communities. Learn more about these devices and technologies.
Is Facebook the Newest Brain Therapy?
"I like the freedom and the fact that people get to know me, not my injury," wrote one respondent to Michael Paul Mason's survey that asked how people with brain injuries are using social networking. "Sometimes the visual appearance of my injury leaves me feeling awkward — or the inability to react quickly in a conversation. I don't want to be treated like I am special; I don't want to be pitied. Online I get to be just me." Learn more about social networking sites like Facebook, where people can connect to others, share information, and form communities.
Read more >>
One Bad Decision
"On July 25, 2008, I had a couple of beers and was driving home at night with friends when I had a serious car accident," writes Michael Nepola on his website, One Bad Decision. "I thought I was okay to drive. I was not wearing my seat belt and was thrown from the vehicle. My friends were wearing their seat belts and walked away unharmed." Michael, who sustained a severe TBI in the crash, built a website and made this haunting video to help other teenagers — and adults — think twice before making that one bad decision.
Watch >>
DVBIC News: The Crucial Role of Nurses
Nurses play a unique and significant role in the care of patients recovering from a traumatic brain injury. To provide resources and recommendations on best practices, the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, with support from the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, has developed a new clinical practice guideline, "Nursing Management of Adults with Severe TBI."
"Nursing Management of Adults with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury" >>
DVBIC BrainWaves, Fall/Winter 2009 >>
Working with the Whole Family
Caron Gan, an R.N. and Marriage and Family Therapist, calls herself a "Chanadian." She grew up in Canada, but is of Chinese descent. Her dual background and her kind and open way with people help in her work with individuals of many cultural and ethnic backgrounds who have sustained a brain injury. In these videos, she discusses strategies for finding support in the brain injury community, educating families about behavioral changes post-injury, and how she uses her cultural background to her advantage, among other topics.
Watch videos >>
The Importance of Self-Esteem
After a brain injury your sense of self-esteem can take a beating as you struggle to accept change and loss. The article "Who Me? Self-Esteem for People With Disabilities," written by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Counseling Services, provides a look at where self-esteem comes from, why it can fluctuate, and strategies to keep a healthy and positive view of yourself.
Read more >>
For more information about TBI, please come visit us at BrainLine.org.
All the best from BrainLine.
Noel Gunther, Executive Director
Christian Lindstrom, Director, Learning Media
Victoria Youcha, EdD, Director, BrainLine
Victoria Tilney McDonough, Associate Editor
Elaine Phillips, MSP, CCC/SLP, Research Consultant
Theresa Rankin, Outreach Consultant
Brian King, Senior Multimedia Producer
Kimberley Larson, Web Designer
Ian Collins, Technical Web Manager
Leon Gittens, Project Administrator
Krystal Klingenberg, Project Coordinator
Newsletter editor: Victoria Tilney McDonough
About BrainLine
BrainLine is a service of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital.
BrainLine.org is a WETA website funded by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, through a contract with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Government funding support is not an endorsement of WETA or any of its products, including this website.
This work was awarded by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command on behalf of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center under Contract no. W81XWH-09-C-0026. The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of Defense position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation.