Dementia comes in all different forms and variations: A common one is widely known as Alzheimer’s.The YouTube channel “Watch Cut Video” recently posted a clip called: Kids Meet a Woman with Alzheimer’s.

The clip in a nutshell:

Miriam who is living with dementia tries to break the ice between the kids and herself by starting a little small talk conversation we all know. Questions are being asked to get to know each other a little bit. A little girl makes the guess that Miriam is only 28 years old which seems to put the biggest smile on her face and a pleasant atmosphere surely is created by then. She playfully starts to ask the volunteering children if they know about Alzheimer´s. It soon becomes very clear that the subject is really unknown. This doesn’t mean that the conversation ends there though. Especially children are known for their curiosity which leads them to ask about the disease.

Miriam tries to explain this type of dementia in a clever way. She clarifies this complicated disease in the simplest way possible. We all know how much easier it is to understand something when we have a picture to refer to. This is exactly what she does. She tells the little children that Alzheimer´s is like Pacman. Pacman happens to live in her head and eats all her knowledge in her brain. A little girl later gets confused because Miriam tells her that there is absolutely no way to stop Pacman from eating her brain. An idea comes up: Why isn’t there a ghost who can stop Pacman damaging everything around him.

Miriam asks the children if they ever forget something and they laugh about all the little stories which are told because everyone seems to forget a detail from time to time. She speaks about the system she created to help her remember the important things: A google calendar on her laptop and cell phone substitutes for her brain because it just doesn’t work the way it used to. This doesn’t help her in every situation she has to face in life though. Last week she got lost in her own apartment which shows the dramatic impacts dementia can have in everyday life.

The 70 year old clearly doesn’t want to end the small talk on this sad note. They all hug each other and leave this talk with a smile on their face and new, important knowledge about the Pacman in Miriam’s brain.

How The Dementia Cafe Can Help

This video shows how receptive children can be. We can all learn something from them and try to stay curious.

The Dementia Café will be an ideal place for such significant conversations. It creates a perfectly safe space for everyone who wants to find out more about the disease and is willing to support loved ones with the disease.