Brain Injury Awareness Week is a national initiative and each year we host a launch event that seeks to create a world more understanding of brain injury.
Our annual launch event aims to raise the profile of brain injury in the community in order to remove the unnecessary barriers people with acquired brain injury (ABI) continue to face every day.
With in-person numbers limited to 60, it was another case of COVID being the catalyst for innovation as the Brain Injury Awareness Week Launch for 2020 was live-streamed for the first time. From the comfort of their homes and workplaces, over 400 people from right around Australia enjoyed what was a truly uplifting morning. Hosted by the ABC’s Emma Rebellato, the event was jam-packed with incredible people, all of whom had important messages and stories about acquired brain injury to share.
A highlight was world-leading neurosurgeon Professor Charlie Teo’s presentation. He shared stories demonstrating the remarkable capacity of the human brain to rewire and heal following injury with tales from his decades of clinical experience and ground-breaking research.
Professor of Neuropsychology at Monash University and Director of the Monash-Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre, Jennie Ponsford provided a terrific overview of acquired brain injury (ABI), its impact on people and how therapy services can support people to rebuild their lives.
The Event also saw the launch of our Brain Injury Awareness Week video, directed by Miles Rowland, which was created to offer insight into ABI, featuring the stories of four remarkable South Australians living with brain injury.
Always a highlight is the panel of people with lived experience of ABI. This year we were fortunate to have Alexa Lawton, her mother Kathy, and sister Georgia take the stage as well as Paul Bovington and his wife Rachel to provide insight into the reality of the difficult task for individuals and families as they seek to adjust to life-changing injuries. Their stories demonstrated their resilience and showed that seemingly unattainable goals can be achieved through a lot of hard work, persistence and a supportive team behind you.
The last part of the morning was the presentation of the Brain Injury SA Awards. Peter Dempsey took out the award for Most Inspiring Individual which recognised his role as an entrepreneur and his work with Bizability, supporting others with disability to build microenterprises for self-employment. Laura Palmer received the Service Excellence Award and was recognised for her professionalism, patience, empathy and skill. It was wonderful to receive so many worthy nominations for the Awards and to learn about the great achievements being made by people with ABI and those that support them.
The event was followed by a morning tea giving people the much-anticipated opportunity to connect with others. After a long period of limited social contact, attendees were delighted to share a delicious morning tea and lively conversation with other attendees.
We thank Presenting Partner the Lifetime Support Authority and Gold Sponsor DBH Lawyers for helping us to deliver what was a truly memorable morning.
Presenting Partner: The Lifetime Support Authority
Gold Sponsor: DBH Lawyers
During the week of Brain Injury Awareness, BISA was honoured to host the launch of a new website developed by Locky Miller and Lauren Spear. The website celebrates and showcases the personal stories of people living with ABI. The website promotes connection, education, understanding and awareness.
The website launch was attended by an enthusiastic group of friends, family and contributors to the website, that can be found at biaw2020.com