RE: A proposal for updating the aging and dementia section of user research

While I agree that this section needs clearing up, I do not agree to all of
these changes. I will be on the will today,,,,

 

 

 

* katie *

 

Katie Haritos-Shea 
Senior Accessibility SME (WCAG/Section 508/ADA/AODA)

 

Cell: 703-371-5545 |  <mailto:ryladog@gmail.com> ryladog@gmail.com | Oakton,
VA |  <http://www.linkedin.com/in/katieharitosshea/> LinkedIn Profile |
Office: 703-371-5545

 

From: Rochford, John [mailto:john.rochford@umassmed.edu] 
Sent: Monday, May 4, 2015 8:55 AM
To: Michael Pluke; public-cognitive-a11y-tf
Subject: RE: A proposal for updating the aging and dementia section of user
research

 

Hi Mike,

 

+1 from me.

 

John

 

John Rochford

UMass Medical School/E.K. Shriver Center

Director, INDEX Program

Instructor, Family Medicine & Community Health

http://www.DisabilityInfo.org

Twitter: @ClearHelper

 
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-England-INDEXShriver-CenterUMass-Medical-
School/227064920160>  <https://twitter.com/NEINDEX>
<http://www.disabilityinfo.org/blog/> 

 

 

From: Michael Pluke [mailto:Mike.Pluke@castle-consult.com] 
Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2015 4:08 PM
To: public-cognitive-a11y-tf
Subject: A proposal for updating the aging and dementia section of user
research

 

Before any changes are made to the "Aging and Dementia" section of the User
Research document I would like to get agreement to an overall approach that
hopefully avoids the impression that aging is in itself a cognitive
condition.

 

I propose that we should:

 

-          Re-title the section "Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia".
The introduction can explain that things such as memory loss can often
increase with age but it is only when this is abnormal that it gets
classified as Mild Cognitive Impairment or, if worse as one of the forms of
dementia, most typically Alzheimer's.

-          Change the heading "Symptoms" into "Challenges". 
The aphasia and dyslexia sections have separate headings "symptoms" and
"challenges" but as we are not trying to supersede standards like DSM-5 it
probably isn't wise to try to give a supposedly authoritative list of
symptoms. The existing content is a very reasonable set of challenges that
many people with various forms of dementia may experience. Also people who
are normally aging will also experience some of these.

-          Give one list of challenges that apply to all of the categories
under this heading e.g. MCI, Alzheimer's, other forms of dementia and even
aging. 
The existing document gives four different lists of "symptoms" for:

o   "Common Symptoms of Cognitive Decline Due to Both Aging and Dementia",

o   "Symptoms of Cognitive Decline Due to Aging" and,

o   "Symptoms of Alzheimer's"

o   "Symptoms of Less-Common Dementia (Non-Alzheimer's)"

but it is exactly the same list apart from the addition of one extra
"symptom" for  Alzheimer's and a few minor additional notes in places. These
minor changes could be details added to the single list.

 

If this overall approach is acceptable, then changes can begin to be made in
line with the above.

 

Best regards

 

Mike