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15 - Breaking my head in the prime of my life: acquired disability in young adulthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2009

Mark Priestley
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
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Summary

Peter is a young single man. He owns his own home, which he shares with his parents, living in a detached flat in the backyard. He sustained a traumatic brain injury in a motor vehicle accident when he was 19, which has resulted in a range of cognitive impairments that severely compromise his capacity to relate independently in the social world, as well as manage his own care. Prior to his injury, Peter was an apprentice fitter and turner. He now receives a disability support pension and purchased his home from his insurance settlement. A financial adviser manages his funds. He is unable to drive a car, so he relies on his mother to drive him or uses taxis, as public transport is not available in the semi-rural area where he lives. He describes himself as lonely; his dream is to find ‘that special person’.

I think I had a dream of a you beaut champion friend … You know someone that could be with me all the time … and I've got that once a week so I can't ask anything more.

Peter has not made friends through the community access service, which provides him some support, although for many others the service is their major source of friends. He rarely attends the actual premises. From Peter's perspective, and despite having brain injury in common, he finds little to share with the other consumers.

Type
Chapter
Information
Disability and the Life Course
Global Perspectives
, pp. 179 - 191
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

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