As the Senate considers Bill 2898 (the Dennis John Benigno Traumatic Brain Injury Program Reauthorization Act), brain injury advocacy faces a critical inflection point. As a 64-year-old elder statesman of pediatric traumatic brain injury, I see growing tensions that can harm all survivors. The most consequential one is the dilution of TBI as we now know it.

The TBI community does not make up one voice. We make up many voices, punctuated by the spectrum of severity levels, the scope of access to care, and many other factors.