To think that dementia is not funny?

[Polgara25]

www.notonthehighstreet.com/globee/product/adventure-before-dementia-luggage-strap

Seriously?????

[PenelopePitstops]

Torn on this. Reality is that dementia will affect you as you get older so for a retirement couple /person it is apt.

Dementia whilst sad, does have some very funny moments too.

[CMOTDibbler]

I don't think its funny, no. But then I'm living my mums journey through dementia, and theres very little to laugh about there either.

[Yankeetarts19]

My mum has had dementia since she was 52,after 13 years I have yet to see the funny moments

[Polgara25]

Dementia has caused unending heartbreak in my family too. Nobody would use conditions such as autism or illnesses such as cancer in this way.

[Sighing]

Most of my family fall foul of dementia. It's certainly advice to consider in life. I'm not sure I think of it as funny though. It's reality, something to prepare for. Enjoy life when you're young and can enjoy the memories, it all may well be taken from you.

[JeffsanArsehole]

It is funny. In that black humour sort of way.

I will very likely get dementia as I age as every single member of my family has. And I can definitely see buying that luggage strap.

[MingZillas]

Dementia is definitely not funny. I work as a professional with older people who have this illness, and it's terrifying to be faced with what could happen to my family and I. The youngest person I've worked with, with dementia was in her earlier 40's. It's so, so cruel to see how people deteriorate because of it.

[MingZillas]

**early, not earlier.

[SenecaFalls]

Why not Adventure Before Cancer? Adventure Before ALS? Adventure Before Congestive Heart Failure?

I think that many people don't realize that dementia is often a terminal illness. My mother died three months ago. The cause of death on her death certificate is end stage dementia.

No, it's not funny.

[Polgara25]

I think those who have not seen it first hand, sometimes think that it means getting a bit forgetful in old age.

Hence something like this making light of it.

It's not appropriate.

[BlueJug]

Just come home in tears from a hopeless, utter waste of time day with my mother. She is at the stage where she has the capacity of a two/ three year old but society trusts her with money and a home to live in alone and write to her/phone her and expect her to deal with it. She hates me for "interfering" - and I have no power to do so. So no, not funny.

[BarbarianMum]

Because the don't rhyme. My ddad has just been diagnosed - that's not funny at all and I suspect it will be considerably less funny before the end. It has made me want to make the most of life before I get it though and after years of 2 weeks in a tent in Wales, we're thinking of heading off to SE Asia next year. So I kind of get it.

[BlueJug]

I get it too - but it reinforces the idea that dementia is a little bit of dottiness associated with old age. It isn't.

[BarbarianMum]

Yes, society's capacity to ignore the reality of dementia is definitely ironic rather than funny

[SenecaFalls]

Yes. You see it on MN. There are nicknames with demented in the name. People refer to outlandish ideas as demented. Adventure Before Dementia and the like trivialize a serious medical condition that slowly steals life and then kills people.

[pudcat]

There is a "Ask seller a question" button on that page - perhaps if we all ask why they think it is funny/amusing they will take it off. Dementia and Alzheimers is not funny. It can have funny moments like my Mum thinking horses were at the dinner table, but it is a horrible, frightening disease.

[Sallystyle]

I have a few patients with dementia at the moment.

It is just awful for them and their families. The patients are so often scared and it is just heart breaking to watch. Sometimes they unintentionally come out with things which are funny but there is nothing funny about dementia.

I admit that I was quite ignorant about it before. My nan had it but she was fortunate in the sense that she didn't have the crippling anxiety that many of my patients do. Some of them are living a life in fear due to it. I have seen patients hitting themselves due to the frustration and patients shaking in fear because they are petrified of the world around them.

The suitcase is just crass.

[vladthedisorganised]

Very good idea, pudcat. Or what donation they'll be making to Alzheimer's Society with every purchase, perhaps?

[PacificDogwod]

I see it more as a kind of 'Seize the day' kinda slogan. And yes, 'dementia' rather than any other life-limiting illness because it rhymes.
I am rather partial to a bit of gallows humour and find it vaguely amusing (and annoying as all the Seize the day' shite) and I know exactly how dementia affected individuals and families.

Not in great taste, but nor is 'Juicy' across a young girl's bum or the vile 'Boys will be boys' or other slogans IMO.

[LunchpackOfNotreDame]

It has its funny moments and when you have something as horrendous as dementia I'd imagine you'd need a touch of gallows humour

[LunchpackOfNotreDame]

Also it's a play on memories. Create some long lasting memories before you lose your short term ones.

[GreenPetal94]

I don't think the product is aimed at those with dementia, so in a sense it could be seen as funny. I wouldn't ever buy it though as think it is inappropriate.

[chickensaresafehere]

My Dad has dementia,I wish he was dead rather than watch him suffer through a condition,that he watched his mother go through & he said to me 'if I ever end up like Nanna,shoot me',so no,it's not funny to me either.

But it's a funny,nasty old world when FB has statuses saying 'I stole my gf's wheelchair. . . . . .She'll soon come crawling back'

And,yes I did defriend them

[SenecaFalls]

I think they are doing this cutesy advertisement, not for gallows humor, but because they don't really understand what dementia is. Many people don't. They think it's just a bit of old age forgetfulness. These attitudes affect fundraising and other efforts to address the devastating effects of dementia diseases.

[ConstanceMarkYaBitch]

I don't see the problem. It's realism, those of us who don't die from heart attacks or cancer or whatever else will probably eventually lose our minds. If we want to laugh about it, why shouldn't we?
There is an awful po-faced attitude that you shouldn't laugh at anything serious. Why the fuck not? As long as you're not being mean or rude to the PERSON who has dementia, or cancer, or whatever else, why shouldn't we laugh at the disease itself, if we want to?
Laughing at things is what humans do. It removes the power, it normalises and humanises. Why do we have to be so fucking serious about everything?