The Lifelong Cognitive Issues of a Traumatic Brain Injury

I know the lifelong cognitive issues of a traumatic brain injury because they are things that I live with every day of my life.

I Was In A Coma

When I was three years old I got hit by a car, I was in a coma for two weeks after-wards. I had to start over and learn how to do everything all over again, as if I had, just been born.

Lifelong Cognitive Issues

The lifelong cognitive issues that I refer to are things like having to ask for clarification every time someone gives me instructions. This tends to frustrate people like employers because they're thinking that this guy isn't smart enough to figure that out.

The Business World

In the hustle and bustle of the business world, having time for slow people like myself isn't exactly a high priority. Unfortunately, the business world doesn't have a lot of tolerance.

Difficulty Understanding Things

I admit that I do have difficulty understanding things when they're worded in a certain way. I remember that I put together an office desk a few years ago and what should have normally taken a normal person a couple of hours to do, it took me four days to do.

I'm Slower Than Everybody Else

So, obviously I'm slower than everybody else. I don't exactly fit into your typical office or work setting because of my brain injury; although, I do look like your average Joe on the street.

Trouble Understanding

I also have trouble understanding a simple list, depending upon how it's worded. I know I'm not stupid; I just process things differently than your typical human being. Fitting in with a group of people is difficult for me because I feel so different from everybody else. As a result, I spend a lot of time alone.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Not everyone understands a person with a traumatic brain injury. And, not everyone has enough patience for a person with a traumatic brain injury. Some people get so frustrated trying to explain things, that, they throw their hands up in the air in disgust and walk away. This result doesn't help anybody and it just adds to the confusion.

Daily Life With A Traumatic Brain Injury

Trying to live daily life with a traumatic brain injury is a struggle because nobody knows that you have an injury. On the outside, I look like everybody else in the world; but, on the inside, everything is different. I process things slower, I act slower, move slower, and I react slower. This frustrates some people and drives them crazy.

The Affects Never Go Away

My traumatic brain injury was 26 years ago, and what people don't understand is that some of the affects of my injury never go away. This is why it's so frustrating to live with a traumatic brain injury. Us survivors are not well understood by the rest of society.

The Rest Of The World

A traumatic brain injury isn't like a cut or a scrape where you mend the wound, it heals up, and you're fine. Some of the affects of the brain injury will never go away. This makes it hard for me to accept and makes me somewhat reluctant to want to deal with the rest of the world because I know that other people just don't understand.

What's Wrong With You?

I don't know what it is, but I just know when other people are looking at me and thinking, what's wrong with you? At that time, I just feel the need to walk away because I don't feel like I should have to explain my life story to everybody I meet, just because I had a traumatic brain injury. Maybe, if I wore a sign around my neck it would make it a lot easier.