Sociological Approach to Acquired Brain Injury and Identity

Jonathan Harvey is a brain injury survivor and a social scientist who specialises in neurological rehabilitation. Jonathan recently completed a Ph.D. at the Open University (2015), which was entitled ‘Navigating the complexities of acquired brain injury: Theorising everyday activities in identity (re)construction’.

'Jonathan Harvey has produced a text that powerfully evokes the possibilities of thinking about the human body as a complex assemblage of connections with other humans and non-humans. And, for this reason, he wonderfully offers Acquired Brain Injury as an opportunity to consider what it means to be human.' Dan Goodley, Professor of Disability Studies and Education, Director of Research, University of Sheffield'Jonathan Harvey’s book reflects the understanding that whatever else disability is, it is forged of our relations with it. He has captured the complexity of what it means to live with an acquired brain injury where there is no clear divide between everyday life with friends, family, school and work, and (re)constructing one’s life post injury. Without traveling into an unmarked sense of normalcy, we find in this book vital ways that Harvey, as a survivor, clinician and researcher, and how other young men have sustained life in the face of difficult societal meanings of acquired brain injury.' Tanya Titchkosky, Professor of Disability Studies in the Department of Social Justice Education at OISE of the University of Toronto, Canada and author of Disability, Self and Society; as well as Reading and Writing Disability Differently; and more recently The Question of Access'Dr. Harvey’s book provides a compelling investigation of identity (re)construction post brain injury and the pivotal role played by rehabilitation. Positioned as both a brain injury survivor and former physiotherapy student, Harvey critically interrogates the experiences of six young men post brain injury to offer fresh insights into how disability and difference are understood and addressed in healthcare. This highly readable text should be required reading for any rehabilitation professional.' Barbara E. Gibson, author of Rehabilitation: A Post-critical Approach, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto

• Foreword 1. Introduction 2. A clinical introduction to acquired brain injury and rehabilitation 3. Mapping the terrain: Theorising my identity (re)construction after ABI 4. Researching the everyday complexities of the lives of ABI survivors 5. Dependence, independence and interdependence in the lives of ABI survivors 6. Exploring time in ABI rehabilitation: Towards a rehabilitation imagination? 7. Critical reflections Index