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A Stroke is Not a TBI
A stroke is not a form of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The word "traumatic" in the definition of TBI relates to the cause of the brain injury, not the fact that people feel traumatized from their brain injury. And of course, people with strokes or brain illnesses feel just as traumatized as people with TBI. But TBI's result from external forces such as being hit by a car or bullet or falling off of a ladder or roof top.
Strokes, tumors, and brain illnesses are not TBI's. The term "tbi survivor" has become so generalized, so popularized by the tbi community, that many people with a stroke or tumor think they are also tbi survivors. Not so. Instead, one is a stroke survivor, or a tumor survivor, or an anoxic brain injury survivor, or a meningitis survivor. Individuals with these other forms of acquired brain injury are not tbi survivors. However, they may lay claim to being abi survivors. Everyone with an acquired brain injury (and that would include from illness, stroke, toxin, trauma, or tumor) may lay claim to being an ABI survivor.
We at the Brain Injury Network are talking about this distinction in terminology because so many brain injury survivors are confused about it. So are some actual authorities in governments and schools, etc. The medical community could do a way better job of educating the public about these distinctions in terminology. Why they don't do that sufficiently we at BIN have no idea. We would like authorities and experts to do a better job of educating patients and the public about these distinctions and classifications.
Note: while a stroke is not per se a tbi, a tbi can lead to a stroke. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3770205/
