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BrainLine News - October 2009

When people with brain injury return to work, they may face a lack of understanding or even outright discrimination. This month we feature information on the federal laws that prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities. Learn about disability rights and what people with TBI and the people who care about them have learned along the road to recovery.

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Resources for Finding Your Way at Work After Brain Injury

Employers have an obligation to make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. If your brain injury qualifies under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you may be protected against discrimination at work. Learn about the laws and other resources to help you thrive in your job.
Ask the Expert: Employee Rights in the Workplace >>
TBI Research Review: Return to Work After Traumatic Brain Injury >>
Accommodation and Compliance Series: Employees with Brain Injuries >>

Strategies for Surviving and Thriving After TBI
Make sure you see the accompanying manual, Traumatic Brain Injury: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving Manual. From the Washington State Department of Social & Health Services, the Aging & Disability Services Administration, and the Department of Information Services. Used with permissions. All rights reserved. http://www.adsa.dshs.wa.gov Transcript of this video.

Sometimes we learn the most from people who have "walked the walk." A new course created for caregivers, "Traumatic Brain Injury: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving," includes a manual and a video of real-life experiences of people in rehab and recovery after TBI and of their caregivers. The six-module course was created by the Washington State Department of Social & Health Services.

Watch and learn >>

ASHA Online Conference: Effects on Hearing, Memory, and Cognition After TBI
Audiologists and speech-language pathologists are important team members in the collaborative evaluation, management, and rehabilitation of people with TBI. On October 13-26, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is hosting an online conference, "Traumatic Brain Injury: Effects on Hearing, Memory, and Cognition," for audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Professionals can earn up to 3.0 ASHA CEU credits.
Complete conference info >>

DVBIC News: Diffusion Tensor Imaging Shows Effects of Blast Injuries
The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center has announced new research on how traumatic brain injury from blast exposure differs from TBI sustained in sports or a motor vehicle crash. Diffusion Tensor Imaging — a form of magnetic resonance imaging — showed differences in damage to brain tissue. "New View With TBI," an article in the latest issues of Brainwaves, offers more details.
Read more >>

Going the Distance
This documentary work-in-progress shares poignant stories of people with TBI — from a victim of a road-rage beating to a Marine infantryman returning home wounded from Iraq. From David L. Brown Productions and Epic Way Sports. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Going the Distance is a 26-minute work-in-progress. Learn more about the project and the final documentary: http://www.goingthedistance.info Transcript of this video.

"Going the Distance," a documentary work-in-progress from David L. Brown Productions and Epic Way Sports, shares poignant stories of people with TBI — from a victim of a road-rage beating to a Marine infantryman returning home wounded from Iraq. Hearing from them and their loved ones and therapists sheds light on how people with TBI may live a life different from the one they may have imagined but one that is good and full and important.

Watch >>

A Three Dog Life
"There is one thing that stays the same: My husband got hurt. Everything else changes." So starts Abigail Thomas's memoir, A Three Dog Life. Thomas writes about walking the tightrope between loving the man who was her husband before he was hit by a car and reveling in the man he becomes afterward.
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
Matthew Bruce, Web Manager
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 material is based upon work supported by the USAMRAA under Contract Number W81XWH-09-C-0026. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USAMRAA.