Making the invisible, visible: the role of creative arts and brain injury by Gráinne McGettrick
In the blink of an eye, life changes forever for those who acquired a brain injury. Working in brain injury advocacy, one of the challenges we face is the invisible nature of brain injury.
People often look fine physically but the cognitive, emotional and psychological impact of brain injury are largely hidden. The invisible nature often means that it is not properly understood or recognised. An acquired brain injury (ABI) often reduces the person’s ability to have their voice heard. Being an active agent in your own life becomes tricky. As part of my policy advocacy work, I wanted to find a way that combined creative arts and advocacy and explore how the creative arts could support increase the visibility of ABI. In the workshop I will share with you the on-going work in Ireland. I will explore how, from a human rights perspective, its use to elevate voice, exercise agency and find a deeply authentic expression for the lived experience. We will take time to expore together the dynamic interplay between creative arts as a tool to support brain health, to promote equal participation and advocate for change.
Gráinne is the Director of Policy and Research with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland and a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, Trinity College Dublin. Her work focuses on addressing health inequalities and championing the human rights of those facing exclusion due to disability and ageing. Gráinne’s work has involved spear-heading several successful national policy advocacy campaigns to bring about policy change. She has led out on stakeholder engagement, building alliances and advocacy coalitions in the acquired brain injury community. In recent years, Grainne has engaged in creative arts practices to elevate the voice, bring visibility and support the agency of people living with an acquired brain injury. This has included delivering events for Creative Brain Week, in Trinity College Dublin, Creative Brainwaves sessions in local councils and partnering with Brain Injury Matters (Northern IrelandI) on a variety of arts-based projects. Grainne has an exemplary track record building collaborations with people with lived experience, academic institutions, researchers and NGOs on projects at national, European and international levels. In 2024, Gráinne was appointed an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Centre for Health Policy and Management, Trinity College Dublin.