Beware the Jabberwocky

fuckyeahdepressingfacts:

genderbitch:

derpraptor:

genderbitch:

carnivaloftherandom:

terajk:

abbyjean:

Several German nursing homes have fake bus stops outside to keep patients from wandering; they wait for nonexistent buses until they forget where they wanted to go, or agree to come inside.

And Beatitudes installed a rectangle of black carpet in front of the dementia unit’s fourth-floor elevators because residents appear to interpret it as a cliff or hole, no longer darting into elevators and wandering away.

“They’ll walk right along the edge but don’t want to step in the black,” said Ms. Alonzo, who finds it less unsettling than methods some facilities use, bracelets that trigger alarms when residents exit. “People with dementia have visual-spatial problems. We’ve actually had some people so wary of it that when we have to get them on the elevator to take them somewhere, we put down a white towel or something to cover it up.”

for people interested in this technique, i strongly recommend reading the, um, spirited discussion of the fake bus stop technique that appeared on FWD last year. these techniques basically boil down to intentionally deceiving people with disabilities, often for the benefit and convenience of their caretakers. that made me feel a little uncomfortable about them, and reading Amanda’s comments really helped me clarify my own thinking on these issues. an excerpt:

Just imagine getting out of there and wondering if every bus stop, every part of the outside world is just a ruse built to keep you from getting out of an institution. That’s the kind of mindfuck this stuff creates. And to create such a mindfuck in someone who has trouble reasoning is all the worse. People who already have reason to doubt their senses don’t need to be given more reason. At least restraints on your body are honest. It’s the shackles they put on your mind that are the worst and the hardest to recover from.

i’m not sure that’s how i react to all of these proposed measures, but it definitely highlights how slippery the slope is in approving of deception of PWDs for the benefits of caretakers and people without disabilities and draws into question why we think it’s ok to trick this group, but would reject a similar intentional deception for other groups.

Yes to all of this.

I also have visual-spatial problems, and am wary of narrow stairs or “high-up” things in general. (I’m very careful with down-escalators). Not being sure if you’re going to fall is very anxiety-provoking. To see caregivers doing this to PWD for their own convenience (“some people [are] so wary of [the fake cliff black carpet] that when we have to get them on the elevator to take them somewhere, we put down a white towel or something to cover it up”) is just…WHAT.

I’d like to ask everyone commenting about how awful this is: Have you ever been a caregiver of someone with dementia? If not, STFU. It’s not about convenience, it’s about safety. My grandmother, whom we cared for at home for 6 years, would wander out of the house. She broke her hip and gave herself a concussion, because she missed the slight step out of the front door. She would routinely get out of soft restraints, and clamber out of her hospital bed, leading to injury, because for a while, she also had a catheter in, and she would pull it out. She developed seizures because of the Alzheimer’s, and had diabetes, high blood pressure, and balance problems. She also, due to terror induced by the audiovisual hallucinations she had as the Alzheimer’s progressed, became violent. She attacked me with a kitchen knife, and could very well have injured HERSELF.

Trying to prevent people with dementia from wandering off, is is NO WAY, about convenience. When people with dementia wander off, they often end up dead. So, please - if you haven’t ever had to care for a person with dementia, do your fucking research. This isn’t a trick, for the convenience of carers, or staff, this is a safety measure, and it’s one that tries to be minimally disruptive to the person with dementia. Rather than trying to convince them of reality, which is often extremely distressing for them, if they have lucid periods, or putting them in restraints, these measures create boundaries that let the person restrain themselves. 

Even with it being for safety, this is still hugely problematic. Messing with the mind of the mentally ill or someone with dementia, for ANY REASON is screwed up and the ethics of it are very suspect.

You’re making their grasp on reality even more difficult to maintain when you do this and it has a level of cruelty to it that is not okay. I know that I would respond very badly to people attempting to take advantage of my mental disabilities and mental illness to control me and it would certainly impact how I handle the world.

I won’t paint every method like this with a broad brush but to assume that this is ethical just cuz it boosts safety? No. Not even remotely okay. Lots of horrible things boost safety. That is lazy thinking.

OH. Also, this “if you’re not a caregiver shut up” bullshit? No. Shut the fuck up. If you don’t have a mental illness or don’t experience distortions of perception due to mental disability then you can shut the fuck up. Caregivers are for the most part in the privileged oppressor zone and there is no fucking way I will let any oppressor classed person silence people in the oppressed part of the axis in ANY fucking discussion.

this is so fucked up…

I would think one of the main ways to help maintain quality of life would be to aid in connecting to reality more. NOT FUCKING WITH THOSE CONNECTIONS.

That’s sure as fuck how it’s worked with pretty much everyone else so far.

Safety for society anyone? People with dementia not only pose a risk for themselves but also other people if they wander around. Let’s take the situation of a road for example, by not containing said people and they wonder on to a busy street, traffic accidents, deaths, cars swerving onto sodewalls and hittimg pedestrians, the examples and possibilities are not only countless but also quite fearful. Also, said containment is a lot better than locking people up in straightjackets. Sometimes sacrifices and not perfect choices must be made for the greater good.

I agree, it’s safer for everyone.

(depressingfactsから)