Abstract
M.A.
Certain topics almost have an interdicted status surrounding them. Avoidance of the unknown is a common reaction displayed by people especially when it involves a condition that strips another of normality. One such topic is brain damage. This study was undertaken to provide an alternative method of viewing a condition that is known to affect many individuals. Brain damage may be acquired by anyone at any point in time as a result of the forces of nature, such as illnesses or intervention of mankind, such as motor vehicle accidents. It seems more valuable to research the issue and provide some resolve, than to ignore or avoid it.
To ensure that a well-founded study was accomplished one dimension of daily living affected by head injuries, was focused upon. Re-employability of labourers following mild to moderate brain damage was the area selected for this study. To achieve this objective, a psychometric battery which assesses the capabilities of an unskilled or semiskilled labourer with brain damage, has been designed. In order to assess the validity of the battery, it was administered to two groups of individuals. The first group constituted 25 brain-damaged labourers and the second group consisted of 100 normal labourers. By comparing the performance of the two groups, it became possible to determine whether the battery was feasible as an instrument of skill disparity. The data accumulated by the study showed that the battery does have the capability of distinguishing between the groups.
A significant result of this study is that there now appears to be a method of differentiating between the jobrelated skills retained by brain-damaged labourers as opposed to normal labourers. This infers that the instrument has the capacity to assess how close to normal the skill competencies of injured persons are. In this setting this invariably implies an evaluation of the reemployability status of a person. Brain-damaged individuals are thereby given some recourse to determine their future work prospects and are provided with some clarity on one dimension of their functioning.