It has been well established that identity is an important factor in the rehabilitation of those with TBI (Ylvisaker & Feeney,

What people are, to themselves and others, is a product of a lifetime of interpersonal interactions superimposed over a very general ethological endowment (Harré, & van Langenhove, 1999). According to Eckert (2000) an individual is a linguistic agent building social meaning in their mutually-engaged community. Individual identity is constructed with group identities, and engagement in the world is a constant process of identity construction (Eckert, 2000). Harré and van Langenhove (1999), also support this social constructivist view of social phenomena generated in and through conversation and conversation like activities. Selfhood, therefore is manifested in various discursive practices such as telling autobiographical stories, taking responsibility for ones actions, expressing doubt, declaring an interest in care, decrying the lack of fairness in a situation and so on (Harré & can Langenhove, 1999). As described by Schiffrin (1988) 'conversation is… a vehicle through which selves, relationships and situations are socially constructed'. Much of the research on traumatic brain injury (TBI) indicates that identity and sense of self plays a significant part in the rehabilitation process describe how an individual without a positive identity or sense of self due to the disability, that is reinforced through their interactions with others, may continue to result in intensified negative reactions from the person with disability. Negative behaviour and the associated oppositional sense of identity can feed on themselves and once constructed, this negative cycle has the power to trigger negative somatic states, feeding a self-sustaining loop that does not require negative feedback in the environment (Ylvisaker & Feeney, 2000). Similarly a study by Shotton, Simpson and Smith (2007), found that individuals have subjective experiences of coping and appraisal after TBI and such experiences were salient in relation to their overall adjustment. The participants in this study that had adjusted well after the TBI reported the need to come to terms with their abilities and learn to set themselves achievable goals, in a sense accept their disability and allow it to become part of their identity (Shotton, Simpson & Smith, 2007). It has been well established that identity is an important factor in the rehabilitation of those with TBI (Ylvisaker & Feeney, 2000) and that such identity is socially constructed through interactions with others in the environment of the individual (Eckert, 2000). Cloute Mitchel and Yates (2008), one of the few studies that look at identity construction use an ethnographic interview to establish evidence of identity construction …