Dementia is perhaps one of the most feared diagnoses one can ever receive. The thought of completely forgetting your family member’s faces and to wonder off into a closed-off world is frightening. It is, however, a reality for a lot of people and sometimes medication does not seem to help. For people that are healthy, understanding this diagnosis can be hard to comprehend. But, there is now a way for you to experience dementia in a way that is both realistic and eye-opening.
The technology that allows the wearer to experience dementia is developed by a student of Central Saints Martin named Di Peng. It’s an egg-shaped helmet that you put over your head and thus shut out the outside world. [pullquote]The helmet is connected to a computer that will run a program that will allow you to experience the full force of dementia.[/pullquote]
With the helmet on, any form of communication is a dozy to carry on as the audio of your speech is muted, altered and blurred which makes the whole experience a lot scarier. By the looks of it, the helmet is quite heavy on the wearer’s head, and I am not sure whether this is intentional or just the bulk of the technology itself.
The whole project is meant to make healthy people better understand the different stages of dementia. I have always found this technology fascinating as it allows us to peek into a reality that is not our own. Just watching this video has given me more information about the illness than I previously had. It will, of course, come in handy should I cross paths with someone who has the illness in the future.
Knowledge is essential and can help not only you but a lot of people in out future. Sure, the helmet looks quite funky when worn. However, I suspect the real experience of dementia makes you feel kind of an outsider as well.
Do you sit on more valuable information about dementia? Let’s contribute to making people aware of the experience by letting us know in the comment section below.
Dementia Simulator Helmet – Experience Dementia
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