Week of October 19 - October 25, 2008
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The new U.S. Postal Service's
"Alzheimer's Stamp"
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As you may know, a special "Alzheimer's Stamp" was just issued. A portion of the cost of the stamp will be donated to research. A lot of people have worked long and hard to make this happen.
Unfortunately, the image on the stamp continues to define in stamp lickers' and pasters' minds the picture of individuals living with Alzheimer's or other dementias as being virtually lifeless - certainly helpless - out of contact with today, themselves, and others.
Hello!
There is no doubt about it: people are afraid of the disease and the accompanying words, "you have dementia, probably of the Alzheimer's type." Who will lead a nationwide effort to de-stigmatize the label and the folks who live with the symptoms of dementia?
Many have asked me if I think that the national Alzheimer's Association can assume the leadership of this effort. My answer is a resounding "Yes" (certainly much more than they are currently doing, some of which is simply counter-productive) and "No."
For the past 25+ years they seem to have had the best of intentions. It isn't that they don't want to de-stigmatize the disease. However, in the name of their self-serving, costly, and large advertising initiative, they aren't above portraying people with dementia as faceless, crouched figures on their posters and in their ads.
They told me the ads were "edgy" and they were aware of how they characterized people with dementia. They told me it was a risk they were willing to take in order to recruit more "Champions" (this could be read as "donors"). They told me they had tested the ads on focus groups and the ads "worked."
I told them they were perpetuating the very stigma they have claimed for the past several years to want to undo. They ran the ads! They got lots more "Champions." Mission accomplished? What mission?
They are, after all, the first and biggest Alzheimer's organization in the United States. Agree or disagree in whole or in part, they are here. It would be, in my eyes, counterproductive to simply ignore them and create something new (although there are many who have and indeed are acting on just such an idea). They need to open themselves up, especially on a national level - especially their Board of Directors - to the realities of the lack of results from 25 years of spending the majority of their dollars funding research.
They need to refocus and re-prioritize their budget, expand their staff, and focus first on those who are actually living with one form or another of dementia.
Leave the science, the theory, the research to others who think and work on such stuff. The Alzheimer's Association needs to do what they are supposed to do: act like any other National Disease Organization and seek first and always to understand and meet the needs of those living with the disease.
THERAPIES:
The BASICS -> THERAPIES section carries articles on non-drug Alzheimer's therapies. The therapies meet the needs of people living with Alzheimer's and other dementias. Access the menu easily by selecting BASICS near the top of any page on this site.
OTHER ARTICLES BY RICHARD TAYLOR:
Solid Advice: Say "Hello" to Each Day
Emphasize Real People Over Hit-and-Miss Research
MORE INFORMATION:
Richard Taylor is a Texan who has lived for seven years with a diagnosis of dementia, probably of the Alzheimer's type. A former psychologist, he is now a champion for individuals with early-stage and early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
BY:
Richard Taylor, Ph.D.
Edited by Peter Berger, Alzheimer's Weekly LLC
SOURCE:
richardtaylorphd.com
COPYRIGHT:
© 2008 RichardTaylorPhD.com . All Rights Reserved.
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