One thing I've noticed a lot when out with my mum is the negative, often downright rude way people act towards her (for instance the people on the tills in shops). I believe this is because she doesn't look like most people's idea of a dementia sufferer (too young for one thing), and so when people do realize something is 'wrong', they don't know how to react. Having worked in retail myself, I know it's not always possible to maintain the patience of a saint when you've a long queue of disgruntled customers to deal with, and the woman currently at the front of the queue can't work out how to get her credit card in the PIN machine, but what they might not realize is that the more frustrated they get, the more agitated and unable to function Mum will become, and while they can just go home and forget about it at the end of the day, Mum will still be convinced she was 'being stupid', long after she's forgotten about the event itself, and take days to get back to her cheerful self.
It's times like these I really miss the supermarket my parents used to use before they moved (in the days before the diagnosis, when we assumed Mum's memory loss was just down to the stress of moving house). The staff there were all very friendly and helpful, and would always talk to my mum like she was human, even on her worst days. Now, no supermarket I know of in the area can be relied upon to provide such outstanding service - most just usher you off to the self-service checkouts (which my mum really can't handle) if you only have a few items.
Does anyone else get this with relatives or friends suffering from EOD? Is it just because they look too young to be a stereotypical 'confused elderly person'? Or is it just society's unwillingness to confront mental illness as a whole? It may well be a combination of both, but I can't help feeling it might be alleviated a bit if my mum had grey hair and wore glasses. Perhaps this just means I'm prejudiced?
It's times like these I really miss the supermarket my parents used to use before they moved (in the days before the diagnosis, when we assumed Mum's memory loss was just down to the stress of moving house). The staff there were all very friendly and helpful, and would always talk to my mum like she was human, even on her worst days. Now, no supermarket I know of in the area can be relied upon to provide such outstanding service - most just usher you off to the self-service checkouts (which my mum really can't handle) if you only have a few items.
Does anyone else get this with relatives or friends suffering from EOD? Is it just because they look too young to be a stereotypical 'confused elderly person'? Or is it just society's unwillingness to confront mental illness as a whole? It may well be a combination of both, but I can't help feeling it might be alleviated a bit if my mum had grey hair and wore glasses. Perhaps this just means I'm prejudiced?