August, 2004
Do you ever have times when you're just irritated? Most of the time I'm on a pretty even keel but not lately. I have to listen to Enya music just to get through the day. For those of you who don't know, Enya is a musician who sings very calming Celtic songs. What is that they say about how music soothes the savage beast? Well, it must be true, because it's certainly helping me to handle several stressful things right now. This might sound funny, but a major source of stress for me lately has been my cat. And no..I'm not kidding. He had to have surgery and as a result he needs to wear a cone on his head to prevent him from opening the incision. He can't go outside until the wound heals, so, basically he is a very unhappy camper right now. He meows constantly and scratches at every door to be let out. He bumps into everything, and what he doesn't bump into, he falls off of, because he is not used to the extra weight around his head. I've been functioning on zero sleep for over a week now, since he keeps me awake. I know, I know,...you're right, I'm starting to sound like that old cliché, you know the one about the woman who lives alone and tells stories about her cat? Either that or a really bad personal ad...Single, White, Female Who Likes Cats, Seeking...Sleep. But I guess that's one nice thing about being a columnist, you can tell the world more than they ever wanted to know about yourself.
Another source of my stress, the State Budget. All of the focus on it has left no room for other legislative items of importance to people with disabilities. Assembly Bill 1794 is one such measure. It would extend current funding for spinal cord injury research and traumatic brain injury community re-integration programs. A Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI, is a brain injury that results from an external force, like a car accident or a fall. Some common symptoms are difficulties with memory and concentration, mood changes, and confusion. Nationwide, the incidence of TBI outpaces that of breast cancer or even AIDS. In his recent article, the Invisible Wound, Matthew Stannard, a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, documented the rising number of soldiers returning home from the war in Iraq with TBI's. "Though high tech body armor saves lives on the battlefield, more and more troops are suffering traumatic head injuries." Stannard goes on to include current incidence figures available from the Centers for Disease Control, saying, "5.3 million Americans are living with TBI-related disabilities, and about 1.5 million suffer a traumatic brain injury every year."
Central Coast Center for Independent Living's New Options TBI Project has been providing independent living services to TBI survivors since 1990. We are one of the seven TBI Projects currently operating around the State. The projects provide a variety of services, including day programs, rehabilitative therapy and employment assistance. Over the course of the last fiscal year, nearly 15,000 California residents were served by one of the projects. They have helped survivors leave nursing homes and rehabilitation hospitals, attain gainful employment, and avoid reliance on public benefit programs. Those are all impressive outcomes, but just try talking about them in this fiscal climate without a State Budget in place. You are basically screaming into the wind. It's a good thing that some of us out there find screaming therapeutic, because otherwise no one would be hearing about these invaluable programs. Fortunately, AB 1794 remains in the legislative process, and is expected to be placed in the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense File the first week of August. The fight will be to make sure that it is pulled from the Suspense File and passes out of the Appropriations Committee. For more information about TBI, our services for survivors or how to get involved with the fight to pass AB 1794, contact me at (831) 757-2968 or ddallimore@cccil.org.