TBI Advocate in the Workplace Help Brain Injury Survivor

TBI Advocate in the Workplace: Jeremiah Part Twelve

It is clear that but for the commitment of his friend, his  TBI advocate in the workplace, to find him work it would have taken him a much longer time to get reemployed.   More significantly, had he not had someone really committed to helping when he walked into the office, he likely wouldn’t have survived.   Jeremiah explains:

No I don’t believe I would have survived.  I think I would’ve given it my best but no, I don’t think I would have.

Where were the problems that came up that a dedicated and committed TBI advocate in the workplace that was in your corner made a difference?

Well of course just the speed of work ability.  If they, if they wouldn’t have advocated that it’s going to take me time to develop my processing ability again, then it would’ve been the speed of my, my work would’ve.   Although in my contract, I was told I would receive a raise after three months depending on how I was doing.  I was doing enough that I got a raise, not without my own difficulties because like I said, I had a contract agency to pay my check, they denied me the raise and they, they denied me many things.

They were not a very nice place and so this is where an advocate made a difference.  It would’ve been nice to know that the person writing your check was an advocate, they were the exact opposite, whatever that is called.

What kind of accommodations did your TBI advocate in the workplace have to make  in the workplace to deal with some of your limitations?

I had a woman from the UW Madison came down to determine some of the things.   What I had to have was a recorder for phone calls, so I could remember what I said.  It was hard for me to tell you what I had to, because it’s hard for me to remember other than that.  That was the primary thing, difficulty at the workplace.  I think the reason I needed such minimal things beyond that, other than a nice chair to sit in and such and things that are special in that respect, were that everybody was such good people there –  very nice people to work with.  They were all very generous people in that firm.

Next in Part Thirteen – Obstacles to Successful Reemployment

By Attorney Gordon Johnson