Employment

Some people consider employment a thing that they have to do
to survive.  A job is something that you
have to do to pay your bills and stay ahead, but for people with a brain injury
or some other kind of disability, getting a job is a blessing!

Companies can hire who they want for any reason that they
want.  When you have a brain injury, you
have to let the employer know up front the things you can and can’t do.  It is up to the company if they want to hire
you and deal with your disabilities.

I said all of that to inform you that I have lived this
experience firsthand.  It is not
something I read in a book, or hard from a friend.  I have a TBI-traumatic brain injury and I
also have a job at Wal-Mart.  Since I
haven’t started work yet, I don’t know what to expect, but I will keep you
posted.   But, just getting the job is a joy for me.

                                              Budget Update

 The House and Senate budgets were just released and Jason sent us an e-mail with the results. They kept the Governor’s full restoration of brain injury funding as well as increasing funding to brain injury on top of the full restoration. In addition, both the House and Senate passed our requested inclusion of brain injury fully and regardless of age in the DBHDS waiver redesign process and the Senate included language that would specifically state persons with brain injury with mental health or substance abuse services.

  As person recovering from a traumatic brain injury I can relate to the need for the services provided for recovery and would like to state that my recovery would not have been, as good as I believe it has been, if I had not had The Denbigh House to provide the finishing touches to my rehabilitation.

Legislative Day in Richmond

          There are lots of places people can go for a group field trip, but we, the members of the Denbigh House, took a field trip to Richmond to meet our designated Senators.  We were able to voice our opinions on why we feel like there should not be a budget cut in the brain injury funding.  We got a chance to stand before the people of power and express our views on funding.  The Senators were very receptive and positive.  They now know that if we feel a certain way about an issue of importance, we will return, if need be, to let them know how we feel about changes.