This was originally a post for my personal Facebook and after a huge response, I thought I would post it on my blog. I eventually deleted it off of my Facebook as it became too heavy but I still wanted it to be somewhere I could easily share again.
I have a father who, as a child, experienced severe brain injury. He appears quite normal from the outside; it is a hidden disability. Although providing for me (and still does), brings laughter and love in my life, growing up there were times i completely disliked him. I have been told stories by my grandma and auntie and uncles about how he was as a child and about the accident itself. Yet, no one had ever helped me understand my dad's brain injury and the effects this had on his personality properly; to me this was just dad, nothing wrong with him, just dad. As I grew older there were times I blamed him for not acting like 'a real dad', blamed him for the stress and eventually blaming him for my mental health. Obviously brain injury effects everyone differently depending on what part of the brain has been injured. Executive Dysfuctions are a range of cognitive, emotional and behavioural difficulties that appear after injuries to the frontal lobe (like my dad). Some of the main difficulties my dad has are impaired social skills, self-awareness, lack of attention and concentration, learning rules and controlling emotions and these effect him, those around him- mostly our family on a daily basis.
The reason I came to write this post was the other week I was in a conversation with someone who knows my dad and actually said to me 'why can't he just be nice?'. I was deeply offended but I realized I have lived with my dad all my life and still have difficulties understanding him myself, so how can I expect a stranger to understand?
I think the main reason I wanted to post this was to make you more aware of these 'hidden disabilities' that anyone can have and not to judge before knowing their story.
This charity and website is brilliant and I encourage you all to visit. https://www.headway.org.uk
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