Action for Brain Injury: Social Isolation

Throughout this week, we are supporting Action for Brain Injury Week 2021. This year’s focus is ‘a life of lockdown’ and the social isolation faced by brain injury survivors both pre and post-lockdown.

Our Clinical Negligence Associate Solicitor, Rachel Sharp, has had the opportunity of speaking directly to brain injury survivor and motivational speaker, Shane Booth (The Man That Speaks), who provided us with a helpful insight into the social isolation experienced by survivors, as well as ways to overcome this:

“I was pretty much a recluse in the early days of my injury. All I wanted to do was sit and watch TV. I was lucky that my family were a great support network throughout my recovery but there were times I would feel socially isolated, as I experienced friends coming and going. Extensive therapy helped me regain the confidence to do the things I enjoyed doing prior to sustaining a brain injury. I was supported by an occupational therapist, physiotherapist and speech and language therapist throughout my recovery, all of which helped me reach a place where I was able to deliver presentations to professionals, universities, care homes and case management companies. By the time Covid-19 hit, 10 years had passed since the accident and I had reached a point where I felt confident enough to no longer use therapy. In a sense, Covid-19 helped me stand on my own two feet.”

These experiences highlight the importance of rehabilitation for client’s recovery following a brain injury. In contrast to many brain injury survivors, this survivor was fortunate to have progressed to a point where he was comfortable to go without therapy during Covid-19, but unfortunately this was has not been the experience for everyone. Many of those who are at the start of their journey to recovery have been massively impacted by the lack of access to rehabilitation throughout the pandemic, causing them to feel socially isolated.

It is therefore particularly important to support Action For Brain Injury Week 2021 in light of the difficulties faced by survivors in terms of accessing rehabilitation throughout the pandemic. We therefore aim to spread awareness about the importance of rehabilitation services for brain injury survivors so there are more success stories like detailed above.

If you have suffered a brain injury and would like a conversation with one of our experienced personal injury solicitors, please do not hesitate to contact on 01484 821 500, or submit your claim online and a member of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.