Spinning, hurting, still, afraid: Living life spaces with Type I Chiari Malformation.

Human geography's varied engagement with the brain has involved considerations of the way people know and respond to their environments, and their place-based experiences with emotions, mental illnesses and disorders, intellectual disabilities and particular neurological conditions. This paper argues however that this scholarship could be augmented by, and existing expertise be directed towards, considering physical brain abnormalities and injuries. As a case in point it considers the spatial experience of living with Type 1 Chiari Malformation. Through interviews with four sufferers, the research articulates three domains that they have had to re-negotiate - home space, social space and medical space - emphasizing supportive and challenging aspects of each, as well as meaningful and affective qualities to encounters. The paper concludes with some pointers towards the future study of physical brain abnormalities and injuries and the kinds of knowledge it might create to increase awareness and inform care. • Extends a geographical research lens to structural brain abnormalities and injuries. • Shows how life spaces are negotiated by people with Chiari Malformation. • Exposes both meaningful and affective levels to their encounters with life spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]