Posted on March 17, 2012 · Posted in Brain Injury

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching an initiative that is in some ways very similar to my own project, TBI Voices.

The CDC is asking people who have suffered traumatic brain injury, TBI, to submit their own videos about their experiences, according to Stars and Stripes. I’ve been doing detailed video interviews of those who have sustained TBI, and their loved ones, since last year.

 http://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/traumatic-brain-injury/tbi-sufferers-invited-to-share-their-stories-online-to-help-others-1.171873

The CDC is using March, Brain Injury Awareness Month, as a launch pad for its Heads Up TBI Film Festival. It will literally be an online repository of video clips and written testimonials about TBI, from those who have sustained TBI.

The goal of the project is to prompt service members and civilians to seek professional help if they need it, and to provide information for survivors, caregivers, the medical community, coaches, parents, children and school officials, Stars and Stripes reported.

At the end of the month, the CDC and the CDC Foundation plan to make a compilation video based on the materials they receive. They are asking people to log onto YouTube to upload videos with their own TBI stories.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CDCFoundationTBI

The CDC, under the TBI Act of 1995, was charged with conducting research on brain injury and and raising public awareness of such injuries.

My project, TBI Voices, is different than the CDC’s initiative because I am interviewing, asking probing questions, to those with TBI and their families, spouses and other loved ones. I am trying to get on the record the kind of personal impact brain injury has on a person’s psyche, daily life, relationships, ability to work and their souls, if you will.

And I applaud the CDC’s project because, like mine, it seeks to let those with TBI tell their own stories, unfiltered.

About the Author

Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447