Unilateral Neglect/Inattention

Neglect refers to the inability to recognise and/or respond to stimuli on the opposite side of the body to the brain injury e.g. the person with a right sided brain injury may not recognise or respond to stimuli on the left side. In the substantive majority this problem occurs following right sided parietal lobe damage.  The neglect may occur in one or more of the senses e.g. tactile, visual and/or auditory. The person and/or their carers may lack an understanding of why simple tasks are difficult.  This problem can occur even in the absence of any physical or cognitive problems.

Unilateral Neglect/Inattention may adversely impact the person’s engagement in activities of daily living e.g. the person:

• Will be inattentive to or completely ignore everything to their left (rarely, on their right).
• May use only one half of their environment.
• May neglect to shave half of their face or only put make-up on one half of their face.
• May only put one sleeve of a garment on.
• May only eat food on one side of the plate, lacking awareness of the remaining food.
• May bump into objects on the neglected side and may not notice people approaching them from that side.
• May be unable to respond to instructions related to their affected side e.g. asking the person to lift their left arm during washing.
• May avoid participating in activities and isolate themselves.
• May affect the person’s ability to participate safely and effectively in activities, whether these are personal and domestic activities of daily living, leisure or work related activities.

How to Help:
Where possible, help the person develop an awareness of the problem and drawing their attention to the parts of their environment to which they are unable to attend.  Use prompts and hints (e.g. cueing to look, turn head) to support orientation to the neglected side during all activities of daily living.