“The White House expressed support for brain injury advocates attending the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force’s (CBITF) Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, March 22.”  To accompany the day, President Trump penned a letter to everyone who participated in the event.  An overview of the letter shows that it largely is a list of facts about brain injury that is available to the public already.  However, there is no letter from an earlier president to compare it with, as the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force was only created in 2012.  (The only letter from President Obama that I can find is a letter applauding the creation of the Task Force.)

An overview of the letter, though, also shows that it is comprised of a ten-line paragraph focused on those who suffer a brain injury while serving in the military.  While I am definitely not dismissing those who suffer a brain injury while on the call of duty, the following paragraph that focuses on civilians with brain injury is only five sentences.  As for statistics, the Center of Disease Control estimates that 1.7 million Americans sustain a brain injury each year .  The Department of Defense estimates that about 17,500 soldiers suffered a brain injury last year.    Unfortunately, that means that the percentage of soldiers who are afflicted by a brain injury is much higher; however, the number of civilian Americans who suffer from brain injuries is still a higher number and much more present.  The focus on the military makes sense for Trump though, as military is one of the chief priorities of the Trump Presidency.

I am not sure what would have made this acknowledgement letter something that the brain injury community and all concerned Americans satisfied and, in fact, there is no singular answer to that.  Even if you disagree with the exact wording of the letter, the fact that the President is recognizing that brain injury is a very important and serious issue in America is a definite positive.