In this article we examine the construction of self following acquired brain injury from an experience-centered perspective. Life history and semistructured interview transcripts collected from four brain injury survivors were analyzed using thematic, syntactic, and deep structure analysis. Though notions of the "lost" or "shattered" self have dominated discussions of personhood in the acquired brain injury literature, we argue that this perspective is a crude representation of the postinjury experience of self, and that aspects of stability, recovery, transcendence, and moral growth are also involved in this process. We highlight the intersubjective nature of the self, and present the processes of delegitimation, invalidation, negotiation, and resistance as crucial aspects of the postinjury construction of personhood. We explore the implications of this complex process of construction of self for grief and bereavement theories, clinical practice, and professional discourse in the area of acquired brain injury.

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Despite common experiences of identity damage, decline, and deterioration, many brain injury survivors succeed in reconstructing robust identities in the wake of injury. Yet, while this accomplishment greatly benefits survivors' quality of life, little is known about how positive identity work might be facilitated or enhanced in therapeutic institutions. Drawing on data from a women's self-help group, we argue that an egalitarian, reflective, strength-focused, and gender-segregated environment can provide female ABI (acquired brain injury) survivors with a fertile scene for identity enhancement and offer unique opportunities for collective identity development. Sociolinguistic interactional analysis revealed four types of positive identity work undertaken within the group: constructing competent selves; tempering the threat of loss and impairment; resisting infantilisation and delegitimisation; and asserting a collective gender identity. This identity work was facilitated by specific programme attributes and activities and contributed to the global project of decentring disability and destigmatising impairments and losses. We call for increased attention to identity issues in brain injury rehabilitation and argue that gender-segregated programming can provide a unique space for female survivors to construct empowering individual and collective identities after injury.