Enabling Or Disabling People With Dementia?

[manuelm...@gmail.com]

The latest sign of over zealous Big Brother or the future for
empowering people with dementia?

When electronic tagging was suggested as a way of tracking people with
dementia it sparked a nationwide debate on the ethics of assistive
technology. Now the Alzheimer's Society is launching a new policy on
electronic tagging and safer walking technology and people with
dementia and their carers are being asked to speak out.

Many people with dementia feel compelled to walk about, a symptom
often described as wandering. Up to 60 per cent of people with the
condition may wander and 40 per cent of them have got lost at some
time outside their homes. Walking can provide significant benefits for
people with dementia, but also presents some risks. If a person with
dementia wanders alone and unannounced it also causes distress for
family carers and loved ones.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, says,

'We know new technology is available and could offer benefits to
people with dementia and their carers. There is a careful balance to
strike between empowering people and restricting their movement and
this technology can certainly never be used as an alternative for high
quality dementia care.

We would like to see people with dementia and their carers joining the
discussion on safer walking technology and what role it can play in
the fight against a condition affecting 700,000 people in the UK.'

Tracking devices use global positioning technology as a way of
locating a person with dementia if they are lost. A carer, close
friend or specialist team can then collect them and bring them back
home.

The Alzheimer's Society is releasing new guidance on safer walking
technology including calls for more research into its use and ability
to support people with dementia and their carers. The charity believes
people should have access to devices if it is appropriate and they
want them. Advanced decisions about this technology could be used
before people reach the later stages of dementia, when they may have
lost mental capacity.

Jo from Oxford, cares for his wife who has Alzheimer's disease. He
says,

'When my wife first wandered we were in London and I spent the night
sitting in a police station waiting for her. If I could have had any
way of finding her then it would have been hugely valuable. It is
important to have devices which are practical and small enough to have
on you all the time.'

People can share their views on safer walking technology on the
Alzheimer's Society website at www.alzheimers.org.uk/talkingpoint.