I've had a wide range of treatment...through all the gammets of how you can treat a person. Those that treat me badly...dont know me, didn't know me, don't care to know me...aren't worth giving a second thought about.

I am me, always have been...just broken and out of sorts...but healing...slowly be surely...healing in all areas.

Those who thought they knew me...are learning either they did or they just thought they did....I don't sweat the small stuff...and losing some of them...honestly would have taken more energy to keep them than I had to spare...so I will keep with me what they taught me in the time we did have together. I'll forgive them...or maybe its the other way around...I'm glad they are gone! lol!

Those that stuck by me and have treated me good....have grown much closer to me...me to them. I always felt the same on the inside...it's just...well...I didnt work or appear the same.

Ya...I probably chased some of the bad people away...(the ones I wasn't sure about before the TBI)

I've had my disablility thrown at me as a bad thing...I never saw the disability...still don't. I can still do things to be productive and that has been and will remain my focus...until some day...when my ship comes in....I can do it all again!!!

I also have ran into those who treat me with kit gloves and I hate it.

I've learned through the school of hard knocks I can take it or I can stop it one way or another. I've never set out to intentionally hurt anyone before or after...that hasn't changed but I've been the recipiant of many of those behaviors from others.

LIke the Army...(and no...I'm not planning to join) I try to be all I can be and then some. Some people may never like me and that's okay too...I may not like them much either ;-) I'll continue to try and keep that...to myself!

A lot of people for me act as though I havent had a brain injury. I certainly hope neither them nor any oftheir family members end up with a TBI.

Its a big source of contention with my immediate family who havent advocate for me at all.

Its almost like they dont want to either believe it or they just think why waste my time.

I feel more acceptance from people who didnt know me before.

Well I don't know my life before what my family calls "the accident." I was only 4 when it happened and I don't remember the actual accident but I've been told it so many times that I feel like I remember it.

I've had good reactions to my right arm and hand because that's the first thing people see, when they see me. My arm is bend at the elbow and my right hand is up in front of my body and it's usually twisted the wrong way.

But the bad reactions definitely out way the good. I thank God when I get the good reactions to my situation.

When I was little and the injury just occured and I had just been let out of the hospital. There was this two elderly woman at church in the row behind us. At that point half of my hair was shaved because the doctors had to put in the shunt, so my mom put the other half into a ponytail. I guess the woman behind us were saying "What kind of mother would do that to her child and then go out in public." My grandma heard it all she turned around and said "A mother who has just had her child go through brain surgery and survive that's who"

I always and will always get stares when I go out in public but what hurts the most are the comments that come along with the heavy stares.

Some people say it's a blessing I can't remember anything from before the accident. But I say that I would at least like to have some memories when I had to working arms and I could run, skip and kneel. I can't even walk the right way. But hey that's life.

What a topic. .. my injury also included 12 years of severe chronic pain. I often felt unbelieved, as if was all my imagination. Finding friends online helped because then i knew i wasn't alone. Yeah, I've lost or let go quite a few friends, have a few really good new ones. When people tell you your crazy enough times you start to believe them.
I Became familiar with my tbi symptoms after the pain was relieved and I kept finding it harder than it should be to get back on track. I think seeking knowledge from research and my friendships here have helped a lot to overcome the many of the negative aspects of that long struggle

well some people it doesn't seem to bother them at all.my boyfriend is really sweet to me and he calls me a trooper.i got my injury at 14 and most kids at school were too imature to handle the fact that i have a brain injury.i get called a retard by some people and others call me other mean names but most kids just give me funny looks.my parents have been great but some of my siblings have had a hard time understanding my brain injury and they haven't cared enough to learn about it either, they argue with me over everything.