Advocacy by and for People with ABI (Acquired Brain Injury)
Social Communities and Social Networking
People with brain injuries are even more vulnerable than other citizens to the unscrupulous who prey on others. On-line social networks (social communities) for people with brain injuries are springing up everywhere on the Internet. Considerations of privacy, which are clearly mandated in other settings, are ignored on the Internet. Our position is that care should be taken to protect the privacy of people with brain injuries in on-line settings. This means that these on-line communities should not be open access, but accessible by invitation and membership only. This will guard, somewhat, participants from spammers and identity thieves, who endlessly and relentlessly attempt to harvest email addresses or even identities from the unsuspecting. Please see also the section entitled Protect Your Privacy.
Brain Injury Network's "social community" (our SABI interactive advocacy community) is entitled SABI. This social networking site is membership only. There is the option to join (highly recommended) using an alias identity. There is some moderation. The archives are not open access for the public to see. SABI is for survivors of abi (tbi, stroke, brain illness, brain injury) only.
There is also a SABI on Facebook, for people who are inclined to be in a purely "social" Internet environment. But care should be exercised on Facebook, MySpace, Multiply, Ning, Orkut and all other Internet communities. For example, it is the norm on these social communities to use one's real name. (But you do not have to use your real name on any of these environments.) We recommend that if you have or create an account on one or more of these social community formats, that you not post particularily private or delicate or confidential information about yourself there. When creating an account on any of the on-line Internet networks (such as Facebook, Myspace, etc.) , please make sure to read the site's guidelines and privacy policies.
Brain Injury Network Social Communities
Here are links to two of BIN's on-line social (and advocacy) networks:
