HOLMESVILLE — At home they call her Eileen, but at the Holmes County Training Center she goes by Betty, a name she shares with her mother.
Unlike many clients served by the Training Center and the Holmes County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Betty Masters was not born with a disability. She became disabled after suffering a traumatic brain injury, the result of a car crash when she was 20.
And, while she struggles to move and communicate in conventional ways, Masters enjoys to write. And, it was with that in mind, Superintendent Marianne Mader asked her to write a regular column for the agency's newsletter.
“I know that she enjoys writing, and I was trying to find a way for her to use her skill and talent and share it with the community,” said Mader, adding the concept of a column “just came …show more content…
“It's nice for people with disabilities to tell people what they think and feel in their own words.”
In her introductory column, Masters introduces herself as a adult who was not born with a disability. Rather, she tells the story of how, while the back seat and unbelted passenger of a drunken driver she was ejected from the car when it crashed and rolled.
“The only injury I had was to my brain. The doctors said it was so badly shaken inside my head it looked like shredded Jell-O in my brain stem area,” said Masters, who remained in a coma for a year and was not expected to survive.
The long-term effects of her traumatic brain injury have affected her speech and hearing and also have limited her physically, “but I understand things and my mind is alert,” she writes. “I spend a lot of time reading and praying. Don't drink or do drugs.
“The driver I was with was drinking and look at what happened to me. I am a perfect example of what could happen,” Masters
Unlike many clients served by the Training Center and the Holmes County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Betty Masters was not born with a disability. She became disabled after suffering a traumatic brain injury, the result of a car crash when she was 20.
And, while she struggles to move and communicate in conventional ways, Masters enjoys to write. And, it was with that in mind, Superintendent Marianne Mader asked her to write a regular column for the agency's newsletter.
“I know that she enjoys writing, and I was trying to find a way for her to use her skill and talent and share it with the community,” said Mader, adding the concept of a column “just came …show more content…
“It's nice for people with disabilities to tell people what they think and feel in their own words.”
In her introductory column, Masters introduces herself as a adult who was not born with a disability. Rather, she tells the story of how, while the back seat and unbelted passenger of a drunken driver she was ejected from the car when it crashed and rolled.
“The only injury I had was to my brain. The doctors said it was so badly shaken inside my head it looked like shredded Jell-O in my brain stem area,” said Masters, who remained in a coma for a year and was not expected to survive.
The long-term effects of her traumatic brain injury have affected her speech and hearing and also have limited her physically, “but I understand things and my mind is alert,” she writes. “I spend a lot of time reading and praying. Don't drink or do drugs.
“The driver I was with was drinking and look at what happened to me. I am a perfect example of what could happen,” Masters