Why Does Dementia Get So Little Mainstream Media Attention?

[Steve64]

Hi Folks,

It annoys me that dementia and care for the elderly in general seems to be a completely forgotten issue when it comes to the mainstream British media. There is plently of media attention, and quite rightly so, through such things as Children In Need and Comic/Sports relief to bring attention and raise millions of pounds every year for other important issues. But nothing of an equivalent nature to raise attention and raise much needed funding for dementia research and elderly care.

 

[nae sporran]

Without sounding too political I have been very disappointed and a little annoyed that no party has mentioned social care in the Local Authority election or the Mayor election coming up in Bristol.
I suppose that is probably due to lack of media interest or coverage, despite cutbacks elsewhere getting coverage.

 

[Pegsdaughter]

Any one know a campaigning journalist?


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[jan.s]

I can only agree with the OP about the lack of awareness. I guess it remains unattractive to so many people, and it is only now starting to gain an awareness with more people. I have found that so many people I speak to know someone with dementia.

Medical science has extended life for so many, but social care hasn't kept up with this.

 

[la lucia]

Any one know a campaigning journalist?


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Moi ☺

I have to say dementia is not my beat journalism-wise but I'm so incensed by the ludicrous carers assessment I had last week that I am revving up to write about it - when I get the time......

The Guardian has covered dementia more than any other outlet but it is sporadic.

 

[stanleypj]

For me, it isn't so much the lack of coverage as the fact that so much of the coverage that currently occurs is quite misleading and plays on stereotypes which do not give an accurate picture of the problem.

 

[Saffie]

It's funny but I seem to see dementia coming at me from all around. It is mentioned far more than it used to be when my mother sufered from it 30 years ago. This is in no small part due to the increasing number of sufferers including celebrities who have written about their experience of having family members with this disease.
The much maligned Daily Mail has run a long and continuing campaign for dignity for the elderly in the past which has included dementia.

It isn't a subject that grabs the public eye unless it affects someone we know and there is a certain amount of fear attached to its concept. Also, let's face it, until you have lived with it, all that is involved including the mental, physical and emotional strain of both sufferer and carer, will never be fully comprehended.

 

[sleepless]

For me, it isn't so much the lack of coverage as the fact that so much of the coverage that currently occurs is quite misleading and plays on stereotypes which do not give an accurate picture of the problem.

I quite agree.
Who would know, for example, the extent to which incontinence rules the lives of so many people with dementia, and therefore their carers?
Just one example.
I really don't want to believe that it's because those with dementia aren't cute or filmogenic.....

 

[marionq]

Fear! Everyone is afraid of dementia in the way they used to be of cancer. Anyone who speaks to me about it is unfailingly kind and concerned but relieved it is me dealing with it and not them.

My fit, active husband is becoming increasingly frail and behaving in a noticeably strange fashion obvious to all we know - why wouldnt they be afraid? No one wants to end up like this and as has been said above incontinence looms ahead for most people. It does not make for easy reading either as fact or fiction.

 

[The Chewtor]

why? well it feels to me on a day by day basis that it is because we are to days lepers. best kept out of the limelight as we upset people too much as it highlights their own possible frailties, and who would want to know about something that cannot have a happy ending. that is not the way of the world now.

wayne

 

[blueboy]

why? well it feels to me on a day by day basis that it is because we are to days lepers. best kept out of the limelight as we upset people too much as it highlights their own possible frailties, and who would want to know about something that cannot have a happy ending. that is not the way of the world now.

wayne

It's time people realised that dementia will touch almost all of us at some time in our lives. You are right, Wayne, to say that it does highlight our possible frailties but surely facing up to our possible futures is much better than burying one's head in the sand. Dementia seems to have become the new big 'C'. However, there is much more coverage of the subject now than there was 40 years ago when both my grandparents were suffering from the effects of this dreadful illness.

 

[sue38]

There is plently of media attention, and quite rightly so, through such things as Children In Need and Comic/Sports relief to bring attention and raise millions of pounds every year for other important issues.

In the main I agree with what you're saying, but just to point out that Comic Relief does actually support a number of dementia related projects.

 

[nitram]

ARUK put a video on TV last June which was different to the usual 'smile and a cup of tea and everything will be OK' approach. Sir Terry Pratchett had died in the February.

https://youtu.be/f0YLcLxB77Y

EDIT
Just read the top comment on the video, at least one person was educated.

Tactical Panda10 months ago
I got a question, i thought this illness was one that destroyed your memory connections in your brain, but how can people die from that? Because apparently someone died from what i saw.

Reply
AlzheimersResearch UK
AlzheimersResearch UK10 months ago
+Gaming Phoenix In Alzheimer’s disease, as more and more areas of the brain are damaged, so increasingly the bodily functions controlled by the brain stop working. In most cases people die due to complications caused by the latter symptoms of the disease. For example, many people find it difficult to swallow, so eating becomes a problem, and sometimes food can be inhaled leading to aspiration pneumonia.

Reply1
Tactical Panda
Tactical Panda10 months ago
+AlzheimersResearch UK Wow...... Thats horrible . I hope you guys can find a cure/slow down the the affects on this! Good luck!

 

[malc]

i personally get fed up of everytime i see anything to do with dementia it's always linked to the elderly,i'm caring for a woman who's 46,had it for 6 years and getting worse,i'm thinking about knocking on number 10 and screaming at the fool in charge.

 

[JTK]

The only reason it might be mentioned more than 30 years ago is that people are realising suddenly that if it happens to them potentially everything they own and have worked for all their life will end up being sold and paid to a care home, or being given to a local authority to pay for care.

We all know that since Margaret Thatcher's government started closing general hospitals from 1979 onwards the collective "this is far too difficult a problem to possibly deal with any time soon or ever" mindset of successive governments of all persuasions to have a frank and honest discussion with the electorate about how to care for and pay for the care of individuals who develop progressive neurological diseases has been shocking.

And god forbid Government challenge the drug companies to find a cure rather than earn billions treating the symptoms!

Perhaps equally shocking has been "we the people's" collective failure to engage with and challenge our elected representative's to address the social and economic impacts alzheimers and all forms of dementia and the consequences of kicking the can down the road.

For now, it feels like it is a crime to get seriously sick in the UK. A crime that will cost you (your spouse and your children) everything you own.