Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Still disabled


I still belong to quite a few stroke or brain aneurysm Facebook pages, 4.5 years after I had my stroke. Stroke is looked on as brain injury – ABI (Acquired Brain Injury) or TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) - and I don’t ever disagree with that. In fact I absolutely agree with it, because it is definitely something injured inside my brain.

STEPS (Skills to Enable People and CommunitieS) had this blog story printed on their FB page, and I decided to print it in my blog, because there are so many things that the author spoke about which reminded me of myself.

I talk about my stroke and aphasia when I first meet someone. It’s not an excuse; it means the same to me as anyone else I have gotten to know who has had a stroke, even with aphasia.

“I might look uninjured, and mostly act uninjured, but it is an unequivocal fact that I have brain damage.” Brooke Knisley said this; it means the same to me.

“…since my brain damage mostly exhibits itself in subtle ways, it’s easier for even smart people to brush off my trauma as an ‘excuse’ than to put themselves in my shoes.” Knisley said this; it means the same to me.

“I relearned how to …  overcome a paralyzed vocal cord,” said Knisley; it means the same to me. I have aphasia. For the first long months I couldn’t talk at all the way I used to. I often still can’t make conversation.

“Eventually, though, the symptoms of my brain damage faded away,” Knisley said, and I thought that she had recovered. Yet she also said “they became easy to overlook, even if my brain itself was still damaged and healing.” That was me too; my recovery is still ongoing, 4.5 years after my stroke. Except I don’t think I will ever fully recover.

And this was what she said which really got to me, because she even mentioned aphasia. “I often struggled to find words and found myself tongue-tied. I’d mean to say one thing, and say the other, or else smash together two unrelated words into a nonsensical portmanteau. People corrected me all the time, and if I struggled or stuttered mid-sentence, they’d attempt to finish my sentences for me… often incorrectly. For someone who prided herself on her ability of self-expression, my aphasia mortified me.” I think of aphasia as mine, even though I do know that many other people also have aphasia.

I really hope you will read this, because Brooke Knisley’s story is so much like mine. We had different causes for our brain injuries, but they are so similar.

So similar.


Friday, November 2, 2018

Suicide is NOT murder


This afternoon I responded to a post I’d seen from ABC which reported that Graham Morant was found guilty of talking his wife into, and buying things for her to, commit suicide and expecting her $1.4 million insurance. This man is religious, so normally I would not support him, but what did he do??

Suicide is a PERSON’S CHOICE! No one can talk them into doing that. What sort of choice do they have? Why didn’t the jury and the judge seem to believe him? Is talking a person into committing suicide murder? Is it called any other thing? Does the population have no respect for a person who commits suicide? Do you know why she did it?

Jennifer Morant had chronic pain in her back. That seems to have affected her for a long time. Perhaps it was affecting her life.  News.com.au said that she was “horrified” when her husband spoke about building a ‘bunker’ against a ‘rapture’. If she was horrified by this, she would not have let him talk her into suicide. According to her sister, Lynette Lucas, “Jenny was horrified that he had all these plans. She said she didn’t want to be part of the communal environment.” If she had been so horrified by this, why would she have committed suicide?? 

I am atheist, I do not believe in religion, but Jennifer Morant’s suicide had nothing to do with Graham Morant’s plans. It had everything to do with how ill his wife was. SHE chose to commit suicide. HE did not murder her. If he was not religious or had not planned on building a bunker, would he have been found guilty?

Beyond Blue has a website which you should check out, and this picture which shows how a person talks about or thinks about suicide before they attempt it.

If they don’t talk to anyone about just how they feel, if they just want to ‘do it’, it is the person’s choice.

Why don’t you support that?