Dementia: it’s not a disgrace

A new short film for the Spanish-speaking community – designed to encourage acceptance of dementia as a medical condition and not a normal part of ageing – has been launched via video-sharing website YouTube.

This is the latest in a series of films aimed at several non-English speaking communities in Australia to help de-stigmatise and promote awareness of the condition.

Alzheimer’s Australia released a film – spoken in Khmer for the Cambodian community – on its YouTube channel in June.

Maree McCabe, Alzheimer’s Australia Victoria chief executive, said the short films in the It’s not a disgrace…it’s dementia series addressed myths and stigma about dementia and the importance for families to seek support within their local service network.

“If people recognise dementia as a distinct medical condition (which it is), they may be more encouraged to seek out advice, assessment and support,” Ms McCabe said.

“Those in the series that are already on our YouTube channel have proven to be very popular, having collectively been viewed more than 3,500 times by internet users in Australia and also around the world, in countries as diverse as Iraq, Sweden, Costa Rica and Cambodia.”

Ms McCabe said this demonstrated the “real need” for information about dementia in the community.

The short films featured carers of people living with dementia giving personal accounts, in their own language, of their experience, along with health professionals who talk about the condition.

“The short films are family friendly resources in dementia awareness and are available in Spanish, Assyrian, Croatian, Khmer and Ukrainian,” Ms McCabe said.

The language-specific films are about 15 minutes in length and have English subtitles.

The films can be found on Alzheimer’s Australia’s YouTube site at http://www.youtube.com/AlzheimersAustralia.