IN a Werribee studio, a group of young people have been writing and recording songs about coming home from war.
They’re not returned soldiers, but the members of SOS West share a story of trauma and an experience of lives and memories that have been changed in an instant.
Community artist Akash Temple has been leading a group of 10 adults with acquired brain injuries (ABI) caused by accidents on the road.
“They sit down, and instead of writing happy, disability-friendly music, they write about their lives – what they were and what they are now,” he says.
These are heavy-hitting subjects, with themes covering isolation, darkness and segregation. But that’s the whole idea, according to Temple, who himself has an ABI.
“What’s the difference between going over as a soldier and coming back with acquired injuries, and us having been hit by cars? The segregation from everything they used to know?
“A lot of people haven’t talked, let alone written about the time they had their car accident. It’s like they were actually talking about going to war … but they were actually relating to the time they got out of a coma, which is pretty heavy for these guys.”
One in 45 Australians have an ABI. While strokes account for the majority of cases, accidents are the second most common cause. Of these traumatic ABIs, a third occur on the road. Two-thirds of people are aged under 25 when they acquire their injury.
The group recently launched a second album, The Story So Far, produced with support from Wyndham Council’s youth resource centre and the Department of Human Services.
Also involved in the program is a group of 14 people with Aspergers syndrome, who are making a short film. “Often these two groups are very neglected and forgotten groups,” Temple says.
“They don’t fit under the general disability category and they have got a hell of a lot to say.”
More details: electronictribes.net.
