Memorandum from Headway (DDB 86)
1. BACKGROUND
TO BRAIN
INJURY
1.1 The Health Select Committee Inquiry
into Brain Injury in March 2001 declared: "Head injury
is the foremost cause of death and disability in young people
. . . There is a growing population of head-injured people in
this country, as improved medical techniques have led to many
head-injured people now surviving their accident and living into
old age, with a normal life expectancy."
1.2 In the UK, approximately one million
people attend hospital accident and emergency departments every
year with some form of traumatic brain injury. According to Health
and Safety Executive statistics, 5% of over-three-day injuries
to employees in 2000-01 were head injuries. This is likely to
be an underestimate due to the difficulties in accurately recognising
and recording head injury.
1.3 Although brain injury can result from
accidents at work, assaults, sports injuries and accidents in
the home, the largest group of people with brain injury are men
aged 15-29 who are involved in a road traffic accident. Brain
injury generally does not alter life expectancy, therefore these
young men may face a lifetime of challenges.
1.4 The residual deficits that result from
traumatic brain injury can be grouped into three areas:
Physical: impairments of movement; co-ordination
and balance; loss of sensation; tiredness; headache; epilepsy;
incontinence.
Cognitive: difficulties with memory; attention
and concentration; speed of information processing; planning and
organising; problem solving; perception.
Emotional and behavioural: including agitation,
anxiety; anger and irritability; disinhibition; emotional instability;
self-centredness; inflexibility; poor motivation; depression and
personality change.
Each individual will have a unique combination
of these difficulties. Hence any rehabilitation needs are complex
and require a combined approach from a multi-disciplinary team.
2. ISSUES ARISING
FROM DRAFT
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
ACT
2.1 Headway, the brain injury association
warmly welcomes the principles of the Disability Discrimination
Bill.
3. VOLUNTEERS
3.1 At the moment, volunteers are not covered
by the Disability Discrimination Act. It was a recommendation
by the Disability Rights Taskforce that volunteers should receive
the same protection as employees under section II of the Disability
Discrimination Act. However, this Bill does not propose that there
should be any change to the position, despite the government accepting
the recommendation in its final response to the Task Force (Towards
Inclusion, March 2001). Headway would welcome the protection of
volunteers under the new Disability Discrimination Act.
3.2 One of the most problematic aspects
of recovering from brain injury is that survivors experience a
loss of confidence, decreased capabilities, and it can take a
long time for brain injury survivors to be able to return to work.
Volunteering is often a valuable step on the route to future employment.
It can help survivors to evaluate their own skills, help self-esteem,
gain valuable experience and help them to gain references. It
is also vital for improving the quality of life of brain injury
survivors.
3.3 Kevin had a brain tumour removed in
1995. At this time, he said his "confidence was low, very
low". Since starting volunteering, he has become a director
on the organisations' management committee and has got a befriending
scheme off the ground. For him, the most invaluable aspect of
volunteering is the fact it helped him build his confidence and
he can now talk to anyone at any level.
3.4 John was a senior manager working in
Health and Safety for a multimillion-pound company. Following
an accident in 2001 he was unable to work. Twelve months after
his accident a professional referred him to a Headway Centre.
He started in March as a volunteer and member rolled into one.
As he improved he started to do two mornings a week. The role
swung more towards volunteer than member. He has now progressed
to part time work as a cook under the Permitted Work Scheme, but
still goes one morning a week as a volunteer/member to assist
with health and safety.
4. EXAMINING
BODIES
4.1 Although Special Educational Needs Disability
Act 2001 altered the DDA so that discrimination relating to disability
in education is prohibited, examination bodies are still not covered
by the DDA despite the Disability Rights Task Force recommendation
that they should be covered.
4.2 We are concerned that examining bodies
and standard setting agencies are not covered. This seems to leave
a complete anomaly for disabled people. While reasonable adjustments
may be made for internally set examinations, external examination
bodies are not required to make such adjustments. So while you
may get assistance in internally marked degree course, a student
taking a key skills examination set by external examiners would
not!
4.3 It is estimated that it can take approximately
seven years for someone with a brain injury to adapt to their
"new" self. A key part of that is changing and adapting
to new limitations and finding new skills.
4.4 Equal opportunities in examinations
are important for brain injury survivors because qualifications
provide vital means for re-entering the labour market, gaining
skills and improving self-confidence.
5. SUMMARY
5.1 While Headway welcomes the Draft Disability
Discrimination Bill, we feel that an opportunity has been missed
to help disabled people such as brain injury survivors who have
acquired a brain injury during the course of their lives to adapt
to their new circumstances.
"Headway aims to promote understanding of
all aspects of brain injury; and to provide information, support
and services to people with a brain injury, their family and carers."
February 2004
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