Medical clearance addresses safety, not cognitive stamina, executive function, or regulation. Many people continue to experience fatigue, inconsistency, and overload after clearance.

TBI often results in acquired neurodivergence, meaning the brain processes information differently than before. This can affect executive function, regulation, and sensory tolerance.

Supports often fade due to timelines, staff changes, informal accommodations, and the assumption that recovery is linear once visible symptoms improve.

Academic demands increase faster than neurological recovery. Fatigue, processing speed, and executive function may lag behind expectations.

Invisible neurological load is often mistaken for motivation or attitude when systems rely on observable behavior instead of internal capacity.

Yes. Girls are more likely to mask symptoms, maintain grades at high effort cost, and lose supports earlier because they appear “fine.”

Cognitive fatigue, reduced stamina, and executive dysfunction often persist after clearance, especially under sustained workload and multitasking demands.

Disclosure is a personal decision. Many adults choose to request function-based accommodations without sharing medical details.

Common supports include adjusted pacing, reduced multitasking, flexible schedules, meeting limits, and recovery time between intensive tasks.

It describes the identity shift that occurs when brain injury or neurological change alters how a person thinks, works, and regulates.

Yes. Many people grieve lost capacity, ease, and identity. Especially when the change is invisible or minimized by others.

TBI often layers onto existing neurodivergence, collapsing compensatory strategies and increasing effort cost. This is not regression.