City: Minot

Brain Injury: Traumatic Brain Injury due to a double explosion 6” from my head.

Explanation of Mask: Most would never know that I have been labeled as “disabled”. I walk, talk, write, etc…but absolutely not as well as before. Before the explosion, I drove all of my University instructors crazy because I already know what I was to be learning. I was only jumping through the hoops.

Those who have known me for some time see, with no doubt, that I am now “impaired”. I cannot live without being the real “Jamie”. The real “JAMIE” died in the accident, so this “Mask” event has been apropos for me now. I often recall the words to the song, “Tears of a Clown”, and apply it to myself as I live, constantly, behind a mask so that most will not guess….Hence, also the tears on the mask.

The disabled person (icon of the “Handicap chair & “person”) and then the icon of the (supposedly “OK” person) is indicative of how others treat me (through misconception of a “disabled” one’s count-enous). There is not nearly enough information out here in the real world for others to understand – I feel as if I’m supposed to wear an advertisement (like on a human with a board in front and back – held up with suspenders) in order for others to show compassion. One should have compassion for all, however, that is not our world.

That, on top of such an egregious lack of information (even among “professionals”) of what “brain injury” can entail. Something needs to be done for both the injured, however, more so for the uninjured