Visiting Headway for volunteer work during their art class was a very interesting experience. I wondered if just one visit would be enough to have any meaningful insight into what it means to live with the consequences of a brain injury. When I got there, a member of the staff showed me around and introduced me to the attendees who were there at the moment. Soon I realized that even short first interactions with the people who were there were enough to get some insight into the struggles they may have to face in their daily lives.
One of such interactions was with a man who had a language impairment that made it difficult for him to express himself clearly, but that surely didn’t keep him from welcoming me at the center. While some impairments could easily be linked to head injury, I think other consequences of TBI may not be easily appreciated by unaware observers, as they interfere with inhibition and a sense of what is appropriate to a given social interaction instead of a clearer cognitive deficit such as something related to memory or attention. One example is one attendee who was very playful when shaking hands. I wonder if someone who is not aware of his condition might understand his particular way of greeting others. I also noticed that, even if brain injury was apparent for some of them, others didn’t seem to have had that kind of injury at all, and for most of the time only they must be aware of the occasional cognitive challenges they have to face.
The art class was very suiting for me to be able to talk with the people who decided to participate in it. I had a nice conversation with two of them, and they talked about their families and their hobbies. One of them explained to me that she really liked swimming, and that she would do it more times a week if she found a volunteer to help her at different times. She also spoke of the job she had and the goals she have for themselves in the near future. From that conversation it was possible to have an idea of how they had to accommodate their lives after the injury, and that they have a direction of what they want to do when they experience some improvements.
The art class was also good to see that different attendees asked for different kinds of help, reminding me that after head injury people can have very different impairments. Some needed no help at all creating their Valentines Day card, while others could only give instructions to their volunteers about how they wanted their card. One of them wanted to write something on their card, but was having difficulty with it and asked me to write what he wanted. This suggested difficulties with fine motor coordination or with language.
I was surprised at the amount of details and interactions I had at Headway for this first visit. I had the opportunity to see some of what I only saw in class, such as the variability of impairments people face after TBI, and that it may not even be noticeable to a lay observer. Talking to the people there I was able to better appreciate that TBI is an event that changes a life, but that being motivated and taking their time to adapt, TBI survivors can find their balance again and lead enjoyable lives.
2 responses to “Art Class at Headway”