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IDEA # 2. Anyone Can Work. Really.

A thirty-five year old bookkeeper had a severe brain injury. She was unconscious for three weeks and hospitalized for five months. Evaluation at the time of discharge revealed standardized math test scores at the second grade level. A forty-year old construction worker had a moderate brain injury. He was hospitalized for less than a month. Even with medication, he suffered from "stabbing" headaches daily for three to five hours at a time. When they came on, he had to stop whatever he was doing and sit down until he felt better.

A fifty-year old newspaper editor had a concussion and lost consciousness for less than an hour. She was seen briefly in the emergency room and returned home. She was unable to sleep more than three hours at a time and could not remember what she read. She spoke slowly, often went off topic, and had word finding problems.

Each of these people had a serious injury and each had a challenging job. Yet, they were all able to hold a job.

The bookkeeper and construction worker were employed in businesses owned by immediate family members. The editor had been working with the same group of co-workers and support staff for more than 20 years. All three of them were given as much understanding, patience, and support as they needed. In each case, co-workers gladly took on at least some of their job responsibilities.

Job counselors have had a hard time predicting work success from medical data and standardized test results. Support in the work environment seems to be the most important predictor of success.

There are at least three things you can do to affect the level of support you receive in the workplace. First, you can avoid choosing or staying in a job where employers and co-workers don’t believe in supporting one another. Second, you can do things to encourage the support of co-workers and supervisors. Third, you can avoid actions that discourage others from supporting you. More detailed information on choosing a supportive employer and encouraging support from others is presented later in our guide.

Good supervisors will give you feedback on a regularly scheduled basis, balancing good and bad comments. Feedback is supposed to be constructive. You should be given specific suggestions to help you improve. Name-calling is out.

Sounds like a fairy tale, right? Brain injury or not, most employers have trouble giving regularly scheduled, constructive feedback. Instead, employers are most likely to give you feedback -

• When you make a mistake so terrible they can’t help but discipline you.
• After you’ve made so many mistakes, they finally blow up.
• In a confused way (because they’ve missed the company deadline for your evaluation).

Supervisors and co-workers have trouble giving constructive feedback because they-

• Have had little practice.
• Believe that feedback is the same things as criticism.
• Have given little thought to you because they have so many other important things to do.
• Are concerned about getting sued or disciplined for saying things that you don’t like.
• Are afraid that you’re too vulnerable from your head injury to "take"
• negative feedback. Are afraid of your reaction, which might include anger or depression.
• Think supporting you means not telling you what you do wrong.