Last night I went to a new brain injury support group. I liked the people and there was pizza. The leader does not have a brain injury so there is actually some kind of order. The last time I sat down to post on my blog I was very upset. I had been asked not to return to my previous support group. The leader did not think the group was "a good fit" for me. I think she just does not like me. I can understand it. She reminds me of all the brain injured traits that I display. When she talks I hear myself and it is disconcerting. I talk too loud or too much. I ramble or elaborate excessively out of fear that I am not being clear. So, I was asked to leave the group because I was being too brain-injuryish?
In the new group nobody talks too much. People listen and respond. There are enough people so you get a balance of responses. The dogmatic are tempered by veterans with more balanced views. And, best of all, there is humor. I laughed hard a few times. I feel pretty good about that.
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48 minutes ago
2 comments:
I'm sorry you were asked to leave your other group, but I'm happy that something good came from it and that you've found a group that is more supportive (that's what they're for after all, right??) :)
After my bleed, I had went to my local brain injury support group and mostly everyone was nice - there was a bit of indignation from the group leader, who did not have a brain injury. She asked when I came in 'What are you doing here?'. I brushed it off at the time, but it was enough to make me not return because I was so 'normal'. I wish there wasn't this caste system that exists in some groups 'too brain injured' and 'not brain injured enough'.
That group leader was so insensitive to say that to you. We should not have to justify or prove our need for support. In my first group, they used to compare length of coma as a measure of injury. I was never in a coma. They think the fact that my head was cut open qualifies me. IMO, it was the angioma bleeding into my brain.
I agree we should not have to qualify or detail the degree of disability, but many people are ignorant about this kind of thing.
Tell people you had a stroke. Most strokes are caused by a lack of blood to the brain. 13% are bleeds. Blood in the brain, whether from an aneurism or an AVM, is still a hemorrhagic stroke. An angioma is a type of AVM. People understand the word stroke and that would be enough said.
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