Please excuse this long post but I wanted to share something positive with you.
Yesterday I posted this on my local Facebook site and I’ve had the most overwhelmingly positive response:
When you’re on your daily walk/run please be understanding of those who may not follow the social distancing rules and move aside.There will be many like my husband:
He has a doctorate in Politics and a masters degree in English. He is 67 yrs old. However, he can no longer read or write, he can’t watch TV, use a computer, or listen for long to music. He can’t hold a conversation over the phone, dress without help, shop, or make a meal. He has no idea who the prime minister is, or whether it’s day or night, Christmas or Easter. One of the few things left that he can enjoy is going for a walk.
If you meet us you will think he’s fine; He’ll say ‘hello” to you and remark about the weather, and say other socially acceptable things to you. But he can’t do social distancing. You see he has Alzheimers:
- He can’t remember that he has to stay a distance away
- He has poor vision so may not see you coming
- He has lost his peripheral vision so can’t move aside as there is no aside
- He has no concept of how close he is to you
- He has no idea what Covid19 is or why we have to stay at home.
My husband isn’t elderly or frail, but his brain no longer functions as well as it once did. He isn’t ‘stupid’ or ‘ignorant’ or ‘selfish’ or ‘a moron’. He’s an intelligent man who is lost. He’s not alone. There are thousands out there just like him. Please think before you judge. Thank you.
It has made me realise our responsibility to enable people to understand this disease and the challenges it brings. I’ve had nearly 600 responses and it’s been shared 172 times.
I too was ignorant before my husband was afflicted. The problem for us is that we are spending so much time looking after our loved ones that we have no time to face outwards to the world and tell them how it is. I’d like to find a way to do this, as until people really see what it’s like they will continue to think of it as an affliction of old age - something that we’ve all got to put up with, and hope we’re not one of the unlucky ones.
Yesterday I posted this on my local Facebook site and I’ve had the most overwhelmingly positive response:
When you’re on your daily walk/run please be understanding of those who may not follow the social distancing rules and move aside.There will be many like my husband:
He has a doctorate in Politics and a masters degree in English. He is 67 yrs old. However, he can no longer read or write, he can’t watch TV, use a computer, or listen for long to music. He can’t hold a conversation over the phone, dress without help, shop, or make a meal. He has no idea who the prime minister is, or whether it’s day or night, Christmas or Easter. One of the few things left that he can enjoy is going for a walk.
If you meet us you will think he’s fine; He’ll say ‘hello” to you and remark about the weather, and say other socially acceptable things to you. But he can’t do social distancing. You see he has Alzheimers:
- He can’t remember that he has to stay a distance away
- He has poor vision so may not see you coming
- He has lost his peripheral vision so can’t move aside as there is no aside
- He has no concept of how close he is to you
- He has no idea what Covid19 is or why we have to stay at home.
My husband isn’t elderly or frail, but his brain no longer functions as well as it once did. He isn’t ‘stupid’ or ‘ignorant’ or ‘selfish’ or ‘a moron’. He’s an intelligent man who is lost. He’s not alone. There are thousands out there just like him. Please think before you judge. Thank you.
It has made me realise our responsibility to enable people to understand this disease and the challenges it brings. I’ve had nearly 600 responses and it’s been shared 172 times.
I too was ignorant before my husband was afflicted. The problem for us is that we are spending so much time looking after our loved ones that we have no time to face outwards to the world and tell them how it is. I’d like to find a way to do this, as until people really see what it’s like they will continue to think of it as an affliction of old age - something that we’ve all got to put up with, and hope we’re not one of the unlucky ones.
