September 2008 .... Mark Sherry In the Sofitel Hotel ...... Mark was a Plenary Speaker for the 2nd International Brain Injury Conference in Melbourne ....

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Ken and Dr. Mark Sherry at the International Conference

in Melbourne 1^st – 3^rd September 2008:

Ken and Dr. Mark Sherry exploring Melbourne at night along the Yarra river on the Wednesday night after the Conference had finished. I personally knew Mark in the 1998 – 2002 period when he was working on his Doctorate (Ph.D) at the University of Queensland. He is a brain injury survivor from fourteen years ago when he was run over by a car in Ann St. Brisbane. He finished doing his Doctoral thesis on Brain Injury. For about three years we both worked on the side with two groups of fellow survivors in Brisbane:

· The Brain Injury Action Group: About a dozen survivors meeting every month looking at actions we could take in the City of Brisbane on behalf of creating a public voice for other survivors …. The Health Department then treated brain injury as a Health problem and not a Disability as it now does

· The ISBI Group (I Survived a Brain Injury): a social group which met every month for three years for lunch in a big public park near the Brisbane River …… we would only share positive things we had accomplished that month

When Mark obtained his doctorate in 2002, he gained a job in America off the Internet. Mark was one of the Plenary speakers who had been brought over to speak at the Conference. This an extract about Mark from the Conference Manual:

Dr. Mark Sherry: He is now Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toledo in the USA and is an expert on brain injury and on disability advocacy. He has spent many years talking with people with brain injuries, family members, friends, disability professionals, brain injury specialists, advocates and others, all around the world. His Ph.D. was on brain injury, and he published a book entitled “If I Only Had A Brain: Deconstructing Brain Injury” in 2006 (Routledge). Dr. Sherry will describe some of the lessons he has learned in addressing these complex problems – both in terms of his own brain injury, and also from many interviews he has conducted in Australia as well as the rest of the world. Dr. Sherry is also very happy to speak to people individually throughout the conference.

In his presentation (he, Dr. Mark Sherry will explain that whoever you are, brain injury is not something you expect. It is never easy – it’s such a complex experience, associated with many physical, emotional, behavioural, cognitive, and/or personality changes. Also, dealing with various systems (educational, disability, rehabilitation, insurance, etc.) is confusing, tiring, and emotionally draining. Sometimes connecting with other people who’ve been touched by brain injury can be life-saving. That’s the best part of a brain injury community – when it works, you realise that you are not alone, that others who’ve been through a similar journey can offer a helping hand or some helpful advice. However Dr. Sherry will identify times when you may still feel isolated– particularly if they aren’t dealing with the same sorts of issues as you.

There are unique issues for children, people from different cultures, people with substance abuse issues, people who have acquired their injuries through violence, people with more than one disability, people in rural areas, people in nursing homes, war veterans, and people with mild brain injuries. Brain injury is such a complex experience, that we do need to share our unique – and different - experiences with each other. But this is only half of the journey. We also need to have an open, honest dialogue with professionals – both specialized professionals in the brain injury field, and professionals in the disability area more broadly. Dr. Sherry’s presentation will identify some of the unique features of brain injury which can present challenges for professionals, families and individuals with a brain injury. He will identify what works – and what doesn’t – in the process of responding to the challenge of life after brain injury. This is the challenge we face: finding new and more effective ways of responding to a very complex and difficult disability.)
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He was staying in Room 3719 which means he was in Room 19 on the 37 Floor.












































































































































































































































































See the photographs I obtained looking his window on the on the 37 Floor. Cars and trams look very small down below. See the photographs here.
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