A friend of mine was injured in a traffic accident in his 20s, and has half a brain, is deaf in one ear and has a glass eye, but has resisted the disability label because he is what is considered "high-functioning brain injured." He has a couple of graduate degrees that kept him viably employed until he was fired by a bad actor administrator who fired several older and disabled employees over the past five years. None of them could afford to sue - if anyone does in the future, his friends will encourage him to pile on. Now in his 50s he has been unemployed for 3 years and we have urged him to take the disability path to simply have some money to live on, while we understand his reluctance to adopt that label and take that path. He still wants a regular job.

We all know he has a huge challenge, understand his wishes, but fear the word may get in the way of his taking the help he really needs.