I've got some thoughts about how the tech world ignores the needs of users with cognitive disabilities like dementia. Hit me hard this week.
There are degrees of dementia. Some people live with mild or moderate forms for years and deserve respect, dignity and as much freedom as we can offer them. That includes access to the internet.
Social media sites offer plenty of parental supervision firewalls for safeguarding children, but to protect a parent that needs the same, you have to lie about their age (which makes birthday announcements on Facebook quite interesting).
I'm not sure I can even do that much longer because at some point my parent will have been on that site for a total number of years over what is considered a "child".
Don't preach to me about Facebook - it's an important social interaction that allows them to connect with family and friends - I'm not taking that away.
There needs to be a caretaker role that can be applied to an account. And other safeguards in place as well that right now I have to do manually.
Add comment