The team at Outside the Box with our Project Manager Rosie McIntosh
It’s Dementia Awareness Week and there are some great things happening across the internet and in offices, care homes and hospitals across Scotland.
The week is focussing on dispelling myths about people with dementia, so they can be supported to live good lives. It seems obvious to us at Mind Waves that using technology can be an important part of that. We know from experience that technology can improve mental wellbeing by helping people to learn new things, connect with their communities and live more independently.
But, when tech projects are set up, they often don’t have the needs of people with dementia in mind, which means those people can miss out on the benefits. It’s not good enough that the people who could benefit most are the ones who are excluded.
Our friends at Outside the Box @OTBCommunities do some great work around supporting people with dementia, including offering online support. Our Project Manager Rosie met with them earlier this week. We all wore purple in honour of Dementia Awareness Week and chatted about how we can do more to involve to make our work more inclusive of people with dementia. They told us why they are committing to the Technology Charter for People with Dementia and they’ve encouraged us to do the same.
The charter looks at the benefits of technology and how we can all work together to break down the barriers for people with dementia. It means those of us who work to support people with dementia need to do more to understand technology. But it also means that those of us who focus on technology need to be more mindful of people with dementia. It’s not going to happen overnight, but there are some great ideas in there.
You can download the charter here.
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