Does Ann Droid sanitise ageing and caring too much?

[DaffodilMersey]

I know this is elderly parents not TV but I’m just curious… Ann Droid on BBC is getting really rave reviews; poignant, hilarious, moving. For those not in the know it’s a drama/comedy about robots helping older people, possibly other people too but that’s the main lens. I watched the trailer and thought, really? Another robot drama? I watched five minutes and it just irritated me. Read the reviews and decided to re-try.

Here’s what is bugging me. Why do dramas always sanitise ageing and/or play it for laughs? Maybe Im a bit worn down by years of caring but it just makes me cross that the ‘old’ person who ‘needs’ a robot for care needs is gardening, going on long walks and off on day trips to the seaside riding rollercoasters and thinking about a job. I’m finding it hard to articulate quite why this annoys me so much. I know it’s fiction. I know we all experience ageing differently. I suppose it’s something about making the experience seem kind of ok and I worry that this is the impression that people take away and it doesn’t help understanding of carers or those who are cared for. I think I am also cross as I’ve read comments relating to the programme about relatives being useless and uncaring. Probably from people who havent a clue what family carers can go through and programmes like this just make it seem like a lark.

anyone else harbour the same sense of humour failure I have?!

I loved it and felt it was more focused on her grief and loneliness than physical health though it did refer to taking medication.
There was the focus on her son not being helpful but it was portrayed as that was how he’d always been. He was meant to be lazy and irritating.
It made me laugh out loud and also cry.
I’m not insensitive and I’ve been in a carer’s role but it didn’t bother me at all.

I enjoyed it. I think Sue Johnston's character expressed very well the grief and loneliness that someone in her position must feel, and the exasperation that because she fainted once she was in the category of "having falls" and "needing help".

But I do agree with your general point. Dementia and Alzheimer's are often portrayed in tv programmes (and even on adverts for support services sometimes) as "sweet old grandparent getting a bit forgetful". The sad reality is that a sufferer can often be aggressive, violent, prone to wandering, abusive, insistent on driving despite being exceptionally dangerous, doubly incontinent and without any insight or empathy. It is not their fault but the reality of the disease. With carers worn down from being abused, spat at, bitten, punched by the person they love (even more challenging if it's for a parent who was abusive during childhood), dismissed by GPs and SS, told they have no say and over-ridden because the person with dementia is deemed to "have capacity" because they said "no" when asked if they want a biscuit. It's very, very far from a lark, I agree.

But I don't think the series was about those issues overall. More about older people who don't really need a high level of care but are being fobbed off with the helpful robots to ease the consciences of their relatives.

@DaffodilMersey - I understand the carers' burden and despair. I would find it a hard watch if I was still in the thick of it, I think. Every good wish to you. x

I haven’t watched it yet, but am looking forward to it. I think the trouble with a realistic portrayal of many peoples old age is it becomes a bit grim to watch. So Riot Women had not one but two elderly DPs with dementia and it just seemed so relentless and depressing.

Also I guess there are many older people who are mostly just lonely.

I think they explained it away quite well, and after all it is a work of fiction/art/drama.

But the core point stands. Robots won't carefully and sensitively clean up incontinent people, or be able to stop wandering with anything other than physical restraint. It won't be ethical or even possible to have dementia care from automatons.

I've only watched a couple, and didn't love it, but I agree, what the robot provided is companionship, not care.

The Sue character wouldn't meet any threshold for needing care.