Untitled

January 5, 2011

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.

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.

(Source: oversets)

9:42pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8WIPy2S0gRJ

(Notes: 174)