How are family relationships affected by a spinal cord injury? - Toby Huston, PhD

I think one of the biggest things with families is you end up with a lot of role changes. People have worked out certain roles within their families and something as dramatic as spinal cord injury throws those roles into disarray. Especially if you’re thinking about a couple or a family, lots of times people have worked out what’s on my list, what’s on your list—kind of an unspoken rule in terms of roles within a family. Spinal cord injury often times moves things from one person’s to-do list to the other person’s list. And people can feel overwhelmed with trying to go through their own grief and sadness, but also all of the other things that they used to count on someone else to do are now on their list.