The brain is the most important and also the most complex organ in the human body. It is therefore very complex to describe the consequences of an injury to the brain. When a brain injury occurs, mainly three areas are affected: motor skills, levels of arousal and personality.     
 

A traumatic brain-injury occurs when the brain is literally shaken within the skull, for instance when a person suffers a trauma to the head. This causes swelling of the brain. A brain injury can be classified as open or closed. An open brain-injury occurs when the skull is open or cracked, as is the case with a gun shot wound. A closed brain-injury occurs when the skull is not cracked, as happens in motor vehicle, motor cycle, pedestrian and sport accidents.

Traumatic brain-injuries, however, do not only originate from accidents. They can occur due to medical reasons, like strokes. A brain-injury can also be the result of hypoxia, which is a lack of oxygen supply to the brain, or brain haemorrhages.

There are various ways to explain brain functioning. The most popular is probably the left brain/right brain concept. The left brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa. We also know that the left brain is responsible for the language and mathematics capabilities while the right brain is responsible for the spatial functions and non-verbal and emotional communication.

Alexander Luria, a Russian Neuro-psychologist, divided the brain into three functional parts. The first is the ascending reticular activating system, which is part of the central nervous system.  This starts at the upper spinal cord and goes upwards to the brain stem. When this system is injured, the person experiences lowered levels of arousal. He/she sleeps more, tires easily, speaks less and has a lower alcohol toleration level. In extreme cases this person can go into irreversible coma.

The second system consists of the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes. These lobes are behind the central groove of Rolandic Fissure in the brain and separate the frontal (front) lobe from the temporal, parietal, occipital (back) lobe.  This is the primary sensory system which is responsible for touch, vision, smell and hearing. It is also where the ability to understand language, mathematics and music is located. When this system is injured, the person’s sensory abilities are affected.

The third system, the frontal lobe, lies in front of the Rolandic Fissure, and can be regarded as the executive part of the brain. The motor functions of the body are controlled from this part of the brain.  A person plans and controls activities from this part of the brain. Personality is also determined here. When this part of the brain is injured, it may result in emotional difficulties and personality changes. Unfortunately this part of the brain is frequently injured in accidents. The person’s ability to reason may also be affected: he/she may struggle to evaluate a problem and execute a plan of action, experience short term memory problems or need more time to understand a concept.

A brain-injured person does not necessarily experience all of these symptoms, but may experience several of them to a greater or a lesser degree.

Every brain injury is unique and depending on where the injury has occurred, the resulting disability is uniquely defined. The tangents between brain injury organisations and other  disability organisations such as the SA Federation for Mental Health and the National Council for People with Physical Disabilities in SA and their affiliates are therefore clear. The brain injured person often has a physical disability on top of the brain related injury.