How Google Could Help People Living with Dementia

Michael Ellenbogen

https://www.differentbrains.org/how-google-could-help-people-living-with-dementia/

glitterqueenscare

Michael - I couldn't agree with this article more.  

I have been a caretaker for my Mom for years and the first time I purchased an item like this I immediately thought about how nice it would be for Mom to use if it was more user friendly for her use.  I can only imagine how much more independence people would gain and it would seem these would be minor things to change that would make a huge difference for so many.

I hope to see these concepts in future products as they are so badly needed!

Thank you for sharing....

Teresag56

Ummm i don't see this working for  a 92 yr old that has no idea what Google or alexa is and talking to something and it talks back....noway....maybe for someone way younger that has dementia.

BassetHoundAnn

That's a great essay, Michael! Have you sent it to Google's disability access department? The ability to adjust it for voice speed seems so basic. 

My DH who's disabled uses Google Mini Home for all sorts of things. He subscribes to Sirius radio and he uses it to stream the same channel all the time with just the command "Google stream Sirius." I'll ask him if there's some command he had to set up. He may have made the setting on an app on his phone or PC. He also uses it to stream podcasts and music from Pandora. 

There was recently a discussion on Reddit about how Google Mini could be tailored to assist parents and grandparents with dementia. One of the things people were most interested in doing was using it to enable someone with dementia to control their TV and I think someone was writing an app for that. At the most basic someone could tell their LO to hold the phone to the Mini and they could command the Mini to turn the TV on or off or change the channel for them. It's strange how many with dementia lose the ability to control the TV they've used for years.

Michael Ellenbogen

I did make multiple attempts to speak with Google but they did not seem interested but they do have the document at top levels. In the meantime it being posted in many places in hopes it will get interested to do more.