Whaling on the Brain

A key aspect of brain injury derives from the fact each victim represents a unique persona, one with a highly developed personal understanding of the world. We each share some degree of common understanding – we all know the difference between whales and Wales. But ask people their first thought on hearing the word and some will say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, while others will start whaling and make a big splash in their drink, or ask you to call them Ishmael. The world is odd in that way. Brain injury makes it odder.
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Learning to Dance the Stair Step

In the course of living our lives, we develop innate trust in our interpretation of personal sense data. We maintain unreserved confidence in our ability to correctly interpret the minutiae of our experience. This development is guided by family, by social relations, by our cultural milieu, and through formal learning. We call this learned capacity “maturation” and accept it as a mark of adulthood.
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