• Gill (22-23)– She criticizes Kirschner’s article, among other reasons, because it presents a composite picture of a TBI patient, and a fictional one, instead of the experience of a real life TBI person.
• Panko-Reis (26-27)– She disagrees partly with Kirschner’s approach because it left out a discussion of the potential suicidal thoughts of the patient.
• Baumann (27)– He agrees with Kirschner’s approach of not discussing the potential suicidal thoughts in the story.
You should write an argument agreeing and/or disagreeing with these perspectives. Say why you agree (partly or completely) with one or more of the authors, and why you disagree with the others.
Examples of ways of agree/disagreeing:
a) I agree with Gill that Kirschner’s portrayal of Jeff is wrong because it does not allow the reader to hear a real disabled person’s voice, and I will explain why and how that would be a better presentation of the TBI experience…
b) I partly disagree with Gill because it is necessary to get many perspectives, not just the patient’s perspective. I also agree with Panko-Reis that it would have been more complete to have a discussion of the patient’s suicidal thoughts.
c) I partly agree and partly disagree with Baumann. I agree that focusing right away on suicidal thoughts would create a negative feeling towards the life of the TBI patient. However, I partly disagree because I think he exaggerates how many ABI people “would choose their present quality of life over death” (27).
d) I disagree with both Gill and Panko-Reis because I believe that Kirschner’s portrayal of the TBI patient is the best approach because…
Things to include:
• Key quotations from their text(s)
• The key points for the author(s) you are focusing on
• If you wish, reference to something in your experience—someone you know, a movie you’ve seen, etc.—that helps you think through these issues.
