Spotlight: Tim Cudmore - Advocate, Speaker, Survivor

At just 10 years old, Tim Cudmore survived a life-altering accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal trauma, and a fractured skull. After spending 14 days in the ICU, Tim woke with no memory of his past and faced the enormous challenge of rebuilding his life from scratch.

Fast-forward more than two decades, and Tim is now a respected community advocate, motivational speaker, and disability and trauma consultant. Drawing on his lived experience with TBI and spinal cord injury, Tim has dedicated his life to supporting others navigating similar challenges.

“We need to hear more from people who live this life every day, particularly in research” he said. 

“That’s how we’ll create real, meaningful change.”

As the consumer representative on QBIC’s Scientific Advisory Committee and the Strategic Management Board, Tim is a valued voice at QBIC’s community roadshow events and workshops. In his role as the Chair of the QBIC Consumer Council, he continues to champion lived-experience inclusion, accessible services, and more compassionate systems for people living with challenging circumstances.

Through his consultancy, Cudmore Consulting and Problem Solving, he also helps individuals and organisations better understand the realities of living with long-term impairment and trauma. His work emphasises the importance of bridging the gap between clinical care and everyday experience. 

“Having lived with a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury for over 27 years, I specialise in translating and explaining the unique realities of those living with long-term disability, and how best to support those who have experienced extreme physical, psychological and emotional trauma,” Tim said.

“This experience has provided me with a unique ability to understand and predict the human condition after it experiences significant trauma.”

Learn more or connect with Tim: asktim.com.au (tim@asktim.com.au)

QBI's Queensland Brain Injury Collaborative (QBIC) is an initiative that strives to build a network of researchers, healthcare, community and industry partners to improve brain injury care.