The workings of the mind

Of all the organs of the human body the brain and its workings remain somewhat of a mystery.  We can now repair the heart, replace the lungs, reproduction the function of the kidneys, and improve sight through surgery. However the brain still wholes many secrets and we still do not know enough to medical restore function as much as we like.

Recently I broke my hand and needed surgery to repair the damage. In the meantime, the brain had redirected the messages to my hand to hold my index finger in a certain position to protect it from being hurt while the bone regrew. So now I am in the process of retraining my brain to hold my hand in its 'normal' position.

I have long understood that the function of damage cells in the brain can take on by other brain cells. Just like a stroke victim or someone with an acquired brain injury at birth some of the cells of my brain were starve of oxygen and died. This brain injury or damage is known as cerebral palsy. Just like those who acquire a brain injury as an adult, the bodily function we are left with is the area of the brain that losses the least amount of cells.  Loss of function can be experienced anywhere in the body, movement, vision, hearing, balance, and speech.  This type of damage to the cells is quite marked. 

However other types of brain damage occur more slowly and can go undetected for years. Such as that in a person experiencing alcoholism or dementia.  However as my occupational thearpist was explaining yesterday, the brain is under some cirrmstances able to reprogram itself, like the different kinds of messages it now sends my hand.

We are able to assist in the process of retraining the brain to perform other functions if early intervention programs are put in place. 

A physical exercise program can be designed to simulate the area of the brain where oxygen was lost and others cells can take over the messages of dead cells, so we often see people who have had strokes learning to walk and talk again. 

However cells that relay the messages to our limbs are not the only cells that die when a brain injury occurs, whether it be from birth trauma; road accident, stroke, alcoholism or the aging process itself.  Cells that affect learning and memory can also be lost.

When damage occurs in an adult whether through injury or a medical condition it is not assumed that intellectual and memory loss has occurred, until medical tests have confirmed these loses. Just a the cells that control hand function can be retrained, memory function can too be retrained.  

However often when people see a child or an older person like myself with Cerebral Palsy they wonder if there a loss of intellectual function.  We can see the person with a physical loss of function has a loss of brain function that impairs there movement but identifying someone in a crowd with loss of memory function is not so easy.  

In its simplest definition Cerebral Palsy is a physical disability that is the result of brain injury round the time of a child's birth. It's severity an type is determine by the area of the brain in which the injury occurs. The are five main types of Cerebral Palsy as outlined in the diagram below.

 However a person may have one or more types, physical impairment may be accompanied by intellectual impairments of epilepsy but is an exception rather than a rule.  People with CP have range of intellectual abilities which is reflected in the general population and explore a who range of career paths including academics careers. People with CP are only limited by the motor function. Just as people with visual impairments are able to learn with the assistance of brail and special computer soft where. 

So it is a shock to read on u-tube and twitter than a woman with CP is considered 'mental' because she happens to have Cerebral Palsy and no control over her vocal chords. One can only assumed that the person was assuming the journalist also had a degree of 'mental retardation' which only seems to service their own intellectual deficits in terms of their vocabily that they are using terms that are outdated and wrong applied. 

Marlena Katene Journist

Currently the term 'mental' is used in relation to people suffering from mental illness which  is associated with physiological and physiological causes, including brain function impaired by drug use. Here I am tempered to judge the faceless individual who made these irrational judgments, but that only severs to make me as judgmental as the individual concerned. 

Sadly in terms of Disability Awareness and educating people on the distinct differences of the various disabilities is only possible when individuals are prepared to listen and learn and sadly there will always be a certain percentage of the population that are not prepare to listen to the type of logic I have endeavored to present in my post today.  For you my readers I hope the information I have presented has helped increaded your knowledge of the workings of the mind.  

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