#Brain Injury Awareness

[theomenmedia]

Emilia Clarke Birthday Special

Happy Birthday, Emilia Clarke! Here's to the woman who brought fire and passion to our screens. Your journey, both on and off screen, inspires us all.

Read the full article right here: https://www.theomenmedia.com/post/emilia-clarke-a-birthday-tribute-to-the-dragon-queen

[rabbitdoesarts]

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. As someone who had a brain injury, I figured I should do a little doodle for it. I wanted to do more, but I kind of forgot how time progresses and how February only has 28 days.

[skwibbit]

It’s Brain injury awareness this month 🧠

I am a survivor

Be kind to yourself and others

[mymbliez]

Brain injuries & criminal behaviour

As we know from decades of research about the brain, each area is in charge of its own functions and abilities. The sections of our brains work constantly to keep our bodies and minds going and to allow us to function in our daily lives. From the things we take for granted like blood circulation and temperature control, to the complex processes of problem solving and storing new information. The brain is the control center of everything that makes us our unique selves, but sometimes even the brain makes mistakes. On this week’s edition of the What’s Up Blog, we will be discussing brain injuries and criminal behaviour. 

What would happen if one day, for some reason, your brain was no longer able to function typically? That is the reality for approximately 165,000 Canadians each year, which is one person every 3 minutes (BIC, n.d.), that sustains a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). That means that during the time it takes you to read this blog post, around 3 people would have experienced the devastating effects of TBI and will live with those effects for the rest of their lives. The CDC describes TBI as an injury that affects how the brain works. They can be caused by a bump, blow, jolt, or penetrating injury to the head (CDC, 2022). Once the nerve cells of the brain die, they can never be brought back, as they do not regenerate. Fast action needs to be taken to reconnect the vast chains of neurons that have been damaged before they die. If survivors cannot gain access to treatment due to economic, regional, cultural, or other barriers, their lives can be changed forever. 

One of the most common stereotypes about individuals with brain injuries is that it makes them more violent and aggressive. This can be true, because certain areas of the brain control our emotional regulation and impulse control, but everyone has the ability to display aggression. Those of us with a normally functioning brain are just able to control our feelings and use critical thinking to find better solutions to our problems. A study by Umbrasas (2020) showed that out of 80 participants charged with criminal offenses, 20% had a history of mild TBI. A Swedish study by Fazel, et al. (2011) found that individuals with TBI showed a significantly increased risk of violent crime. Instead of treating these individuals as “mindless criminals”, I believe that we as a society should support them and increase our understanding of brain injuries. Without access to proper treatment, criminal behaviour is just one of the possible outcomes. This was the case for one UK survivor, Bryon Schofield. 

In August of 2010, Bryon and his brother were violently attacked by a group of men while walking through an alleyway. Schofield was hit with a hammer during the incident and was diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage and skull fracture. His injuries were so severe that he was placed in a coma for 3 days and a part of his skull was removed to let pressure escape from the bleed. He was discharged 6 months later, despite losing most of the strength in the left side of his body, having poor short-term memory, and slurred speech. His doctors recommended that he seek specialist rehabilitation, but he was denied due to a lack of space in the facility. His mother became his full-time carer and he worked tirelessly for 2 years (without formal treatment) to regain his independence. 

Only 3 months after Schofield moved into his own apartment, he recognized his attackers at a party held by his friend. He claims that he was unable to stop himself when he began the fight that led to his arrest. In prison, he was unable to care for himself and had to be paired with a cellmate to help him with his daily living needs. 7 months after his arrest, a representative of the Disabilities Trust told the court that Schofield was too ill to serve his prison sentence and he should instead be sent to a rehabilitation facility. The court accepted this proposal and Schofiled was given an 18-month sentence at Daniel Yorath House, where he underwent daily therapy and rehabilitation for his injury. By the time he had completed his sentence, he had learned daily living skills, emotional regulation skills, impulse control, and was ready to live independently. Neuropsychologist Dr. Ivan Pitman, who works for the Disabilities Trust, asserted that Bryon Schofield would have never committed a crime if it weren’t for his brain injury (Menon, 2018). 

This story is just one of thousands of stories about brain injuries and criminal behaviour. Although this one had a happy ending, with Bryon getting the treatment he deserved, many individuals are not this fortunate. Revisions to the treatment and care methods used for survivors of TBI could change this reality. To learn how you can help or make a donation, visit the Canadian Brain Injury Association. You can also sign the online petition to enact Bill C-277, which would establish a national strategy for the treatment of acquired and traumatic brain injuries. Thank you for reading! 

[vulpine111]

Earlier this morning, I fell asleep again and had another dream about Felix and Florian. It hurt because in it, they were asking me to eat with them and talk things out. Upon waking, I remembered they'll likely never want that because I have a brain injury and they only love(d) who I was before I hit my head. I've been trying to paint something to express how much it hurts to be tossed out and ignored like garbage because I am disabled, and my overall grief surrounding the disabled experience, but I need to start over. I am going to paint over the big canvas I tried on because what I did manage to get out doesn't measure up to my standards. It looks pretty bad, actually. I'm so frustrated. Eventually, I am sure plenty of people would love to see me turn something as disgusting as their inability to love me into something beautiful, though!

[millarlawfirm]

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. In Georgia alone, over 30,000 people sustain a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) each year, yet brain injury remains largely silent and unseen because its effects may not be immediately apparent.     

Visit sidebysideclubhouse.org to learn more, including ways you can help individuals affected by brain injuries, and their families.     

Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is "to advance the long-term well-being of people with brain injury-related disabilities and their families through skills development, support, and advocacy." We thank them for all they do!

[riseandrestorehomecare]

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can be a devastating experience for anyone, but when it affects children, the challenges and concerns become even more profound. TBI in children can result from various accidents or injuries, and it demands a comprehensive understanding to provide the best possible care and support for young patients and their families.

[ctbraininjurysupportservice-blog]

https://www.ctbraininjury.com/blog-abi-resources

[qcellbit]

meta talk. i don't quite know how to word this properly, but adding french creators to the qsmp is the riskiest thing quackity studios could've done and it doesn't surprise me that the success to which it was executed was minimal.

adding portuguese speaking creators exclusively from brazil as the first batch outside of the initial english and spanish speakers was the perfect "soft expansion" for the server when you consider the reason for the project's conception - because quackity had experienced poor treatment from white americans as a bilingual latino creator and sought to unite his two communities in an empowering way, further expanding this very noble and personal idea to encapsulate all communities and all languages spanning across the entire world. inviting more latino creators who have likely had the same experiences and would be able to appreciate what the project is trying to achieve is a no-brainer.

it's an uncomfortable thing to touch on (which is why i've never, ever, seen it spoken about on this website), but minecraft projects and communities have always had massive problems with all forms of bigotry, but especially racism. white americans and white europeans have probably not felt the euphoria of seeing their culture celebrated in mainstream global entertainment projects as they already absolutely dominate the entertainment industry on a global scale. as someone who is visibly brown and living in europe, i've always got a lot of grief from classmates and co-workers in the form of ignorant jokes and flat out exclusion - it's an unfortunate cultural norm that bleeds into streaming due to the medium's casual and open nature, unnoticed or unchallenged by white viewers who don't want to have to confront a content creator's bigotry in fears of having to stop watching them. something that cannot be ignored by the people it's actually affecting. there is a reason dsmp and hermitcraft cosplay meet ups are dominated by pale skin.

i love the qsmp because its inclusion of latin american creators and quackity's selectiveness based on personal experience have largely (and i do mean largely, not entirely, but that's a discussion for another day) eliminated that problem.

the most prominent and succinct example i can think of is the photo of quackity's bedroom that was mocked countless times by his english speaking community and his bigoted english speaking friends when he streamed on the dsmp - when that photo was brought to the qsmp, forever, a fellow latino creator, was the first person to gently offer solidarity because he had come from the same impoverished latin american background. to me, and to a lot of minorities, that is what the qsmp is about. yeah, sharing languages in a minecraft server is novel, it's a fun way for americans who did poorly in high school to get back into learning spanish, but it stands for so much more when you're a racial minority. when your pleading in the dsmp fandom was drowned out and ignored for the entire duration of its run. when you're completely unrepresented in minecraft tournaments, and when known bigots are encouraged to participate in said tournaments to boost viewership because numbers are paramount. when you are finally seeing your culture appreciated rather than mocked on streams with tens of thousands of viewers all over the world as part of a massive project with a brilliant, engaging story.

it was obviously necessary to branch out of the americas at some point with what the project is attempting to achieve, but such a task is daunting when the next group you're inviting and their community probably do not have the capacity through personal experience to appreciate what the project stands for at its core in the same way the first batches do. can non americans all relate in discussions of the internet and entertainment industry being america and by extension english speaking centric? yeah, of course. but can white europeans relate when the only representation you have in said media revolves around harmful bigoted stereotypes? can there be a quiet solidarity between a white frenchman and a brown brazilian based on experiences with government, racial profiling, and online mockery? no. and in the landscape of livestreaming stupid jokes for entertainment alongside fast paced gameplay, these nuances are probably not going to be acknowledged.

in complete contrast to the solidarity exhibited between quackity and forever when discussing their poverty growing up in latin america, i have not forgotten and never will forget aypierre excusing his constant racist jokes aimed at the brazilians on his uniquely "french dark humour" that the brazilians, hurt by his comments, could "not understand." this is not an excusable cultural difference, but a symptom of white european privilege, and total ignorance towards what the project is meant to stand for. a smooth integration of all the world's cultures necessitates white european and white american introspection in a way that i haven't seen a lot of streamers capable of. admitting fault to such a degree and the ego of a large online personality do not often mesh well.

i'm always very irritated when people (especially english speakers) complain about them not "adding the germans" sooner despite us seeing applications for german speaking admins many months ago - because it would not be a task of simply throwing out server invites to content creators and cobbling together an animation of a submarine crashing into the island. you cannot downplay the ambition of this project and the mammoth task its trying to accomplish. people take for granted and forget that this is an unprecedented melding of cultures that would never otherwise interact and clash on the rare occasions they do. the french qsmp community being small and the french creators largely being outliers when it comes to the qsmp is not something born out of malice or purposeful exclusion, but simply a symptom of an unspoken lack of solidarity and inability to meaningfully relate based on everything from wildly varying privilege to global placement.

and don't get me wrong - i'm not excusing things like the times at which events are broadcast (i literally live in europe and have to stay up until sunrise to see most events, i think the admins do have to bite the bullet and begin structuring events around a new timezone that isn't the globally inconvenient unsustainable PST), or the exclusion of clips from french content creators at the presidential dinner, but i think attributing those admin choices to the brazilian community being unfairly favoured is downplaying what the qsmp as a project means for minorities, especially when the brazilian community receive the most scorn for infamously being the first to call out bigoted behaviour from qsmp content creators. yeah, it sucks that the french haven't slotted into the qsmp as well as the brazilians and aren't anywhere as numerous, but with all these unspoken contributing factors being taken into account, i can't be surprised.

i wish quackity and his team the best in smoothly integrating more languages and cultures in this amazing project in the future, but for the love of god please understand that the implications of this project and its impact are far larger than any streamer "drama" you might've witnessed in the past. and stop underplaying what this project is trying to achieve in an online landscape saturated in bigotry.

[creepyscritches]

Just finished another class on how to not put my foot in my mouth and it's soooo validating to know people have to learn these skills like anything else. I've signed up for uhhh I think this is like my 3rd or 4th? And experts on how to not sound like a dick will school me and 30 other professionals on how to not sound like a dick. Wiiiiiiild how much there is to learn on the intricacies of communication :O

[himbeaux-on-ice]

hot take, heavily penalizing teenagers for causing each other head injuries, even unintentionally, is good, actually, and the nhl could stand to take a page from the iihf book on the way that standard is upheld (for all ages).

“how are you gonna prepare them for the nhl if the rules are different?!” this is not an nhl run event. this is not the george parros department of player safety or the gary bettman league. this is not the ‘nhl prospect practice and preparation tournament’, this is the world junior hockey championship. it is its own entity unto itself and for its own ends, it is not just a stepping stone for your favourite budding superstars to gain prestige and fanfare before they move on to the only “big league” that north american hockey fans consider significant or meaningful. it plays a larger role in the development of not only players, but also of entire hockey training programs in countries where hockey, even men’s hockey, is an under-funded or less established sport.

not all of these kids are going to go on to be nhl players. ALL of them should get the chance to grow up to be adults who don’t have their quality of life degraded by lingering head injuries and cte.

miss me with your tough guy bullshit. good grief.

[milolovesbmc]

Even MORE gpi headcanons because I'm still very much insane!! I think about them a lot!!! (Also cause the other two people in the fandom are busy... And I'm crazy)

- They only hang out in Corey's house because his father always either isn't there or doesn't care enough to check on them or anything

- They were both born in 1988 which would mean they were teenagers in the 90's

- Previous one is important because..... Doug had one of those flip phones with the antenna sticking out of it while Corey had the kind that had a keyboard you could pull out

- Corey genuinely can't tell if Doug's actually good at sports or if he's just very confidently terrible at them (he either gets disqualified from or loses like every other hockey game)

- Doug had to take his driving test like 5 times because he kept parking horribly wrong, Corey got his the first time after spending way too long panicking about not knowing every single traffic sign

- Corey runs his hands through Doug's scars when he's asleep or whenever he thinks he won't notice. Some part of him believes maybe he can still fix him

[skcirthinq]

Continuing to clean up my files, I've come across some sketches I did for @pickledcarrotsandradish 's Reverse Order fic, which is.

Uh.

The future timeline, but what if the death orders of the turtles was reversed. And I, like a fool! Like an absolute dumbass! Was like, " oh I've read plenty of fics where I've seen each and every of the characters die. I'll be fine!"

I was not fine!

So like! Spoilers!

But, uh. I am in shambles.

I highly recommend op's other Rise fics; they're all very good!

And this next sketch isn't really based on any fic, but loosely inspired by the above mentioned fic, and a few others, making brain go:

"huh, I wonder what kinda krang designs the other boys would have?"

Fucked up!

[babblingeccentric]

People like to make koala sabos keeper in fanon and while we haven't seen much of her in canon it's the same mom friend/pure lesbian bff thing fandom does to women close to their male blorbos and it's kinda misogynistic

I think as an escaped child slave koala should be even more vindictive and violent than sabo. She just yells at him because hes impulsive and going to GET THEM CAUGHT YOU ASSHOLE