His biggest issue — and this is common — is safety, because brain injury often disrupts the impulse-control center. And because it's usually a hidden injury, people look at someone who has a brain injury without recognizing their challenges. The judgments can be pretty harsh, she said.

It took Roper almost 23 months to walk well enough and move his right side enough to get around again. He credits the Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired for literally saving him. He took courses there. The former salesman learned to use his computer again. He learned mobility skills, since he lost the lower half of his field of vision, as well as some peripheral vision. "But I'm still tall and good-looking" he quips, after detailing the injuries and their aftermath.

He's an advocate now for people with disabilities. He tries to use well one consequence of brain injury: "When I get on a subject, I work it to death," he said.

As for the conference, McCauley believes families with brain injury — and it happens to the whole family, not just the injured individual — need it. "It's a support network, but it's also hope," she said. "You can get greater understanding of the injury, because there's always someone who has some input or awareness that you didn't have before."

More information on the conference is online at www.biau.org or by calling 800-281-8442 or 801-484-2240.

---

E-mail: Lois@desnews.com