Last Updated31 October 2024

Each person is unique, and each disability affects each person differently. The information in this section is a very simple overview of some common disabilities. It is aimed to provide a starting point for more research. Use the assessment tools to learn as much as you can about the individual. The person with the disability and/or their caregiver will understand their abilities better than anyone else.

Brain Injury (TBI)

Brain injuries can be caused by stroke, disease, lack of oxygen, toxins, or trauma to the brain. A Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is caused by an external force and can be either open (involving an open wound) or closed (blunt trauma with no wound). A brain injury caused by internal factors would be considered an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI).

Each brain injury is unique – there is no reliable way to predict how an individual’s brain will be affected by an injury. Once a person’s brain has been injured, health care providers perform several different psychological and neurological tests in order to determine the areas of the brain that have been damaged. With some brain injuries the damages done and the result in behaviours are barely noticeable. In other brain injuries, the damages and effects are more extensive.

Moderate to severe Brain Injury may result in:

Fatigue.
Physical disability – affecting mobility, pain, speech, senses.
Cognitive disability – affecting attention, memory, processing, language, intellectual flexibility.
Emotional and behavioural disability – including anxiety and depression, excess or absence of behaviours, agitation, impulsiveness, aggression, lack of drive.

Hemiplegia or Hemiparesis is common with brain injury and refers to a paralysing or weakening that affects one side (hemisphere) of a person. A brain injury predominantly of the left brain affects the right side of the body and vice versa. Below are the typical effects for right and left side brain damage, these are not exhaustive, and the effects may be mixed due to both sides of the brain having been affected or through compensation of the healthy parts of the brain.

This affects the right side of the body. It is often characterised by poor short-term memory, distractibility, lability (difficulty controlling appropriate emotions), difficulty with time and place, possible perseverance (repeating).

This affects the left side of the body. It is often characterised by dysarthria (inability of muscles that control speech), aphasia (receptive or expressive – difficulty understanding or utilising speech to convey appropriate meaning).

Teaching Considerations

Always wear a helmet.
If the student is unfamiliar to you, assess their ability on the learner slope as they may have a historical perception of their skills.
Check for seizures; if not controlled, use a harness on the chairlift.
Adapt communication, equipment, and expectations according to how the TBI affects the person.
Be empathetic to inappropriate behaviour but set appropriate boundaries and use repetition if necessary due to memory loss.

Common Red Flags

Disorientation
Fatigue
Lability
Memory loss
Affected muscle control
Speech aphasia/dysarthria
Balance problems