Dundonald woman calls for more dementia friendly services
Co Down mum and granny shares personal story to help raise awareness
A County Down woman who was diagnosed with alzheimers disease aged just 57, has shared her experience of living with dementia.
Allison Batchelor was speaking at an event in Bangor last week to raise awareness and help the public to recognise dementia symptoms.
The 58-year-old mum and granny told us she was shocked by her own diagnosis over a year ago:
"I was diagnosed with alzheimers in April 17.
"I was totally floored...I felt angry, depressed, worried and didn't really know what the future held.
"A lot of people with a dementia diagnosis would describe being thrown into a black hole and that's exactly what it felt like.
"You felt like it was the beginning of the end," she added.
Allison had been happily enjoying life, spending time with her family and minding her grandchildren when the disease was detected.
She said it had a huge impact on her mental health:
"You just couldn't see a way of getting out of it, a way of being able to move forward, you really felt life as you knew it was over.
"Everything was dark, there was no joy, there was no hope."
As she struggled to come to terms with the life-changing news, Allison told us she began to suffer from symptoms of depression:
"I could see and a lot of members would talk about getting to a stage where they feel life is no longer worth living.
"That you can't see a way to live, you think that family may be better off...if you're not around."
Despite feeling hopeless, she received help and support from charity Dementia NI and now attends empowerment groups to connect with others living with dementia.
She told Downtown Cool FM the groups have given her a new lease of life:
"It's real, you can't see a way to move forward from that.
"I think without the help and support, your mental health would really very, very quickly deteriorate on a downward spiral that you wouldn't be able to pull back out of."
The 58-year-old told us there is a common misconception that people who have dementia diagnosis' are always elderly.
She said she was shocked at her own diagnosis at her age but discovered through support groups that it is common to be diagnosed for people in their 50s:
"It was very surprising for me and not that you want anybody else to have dementia but it was reassuring to see others of a similar sort of age, going through the same...struggles that I was going through coming to terms with it.
"And to realise that you weren't on your own."
Figures show over 14,000 people are on the dementia register in Northern Ireland.
This marks a 45% increase in the last decade.
Allison says the public need to be aware that it can strike anyone at any age and urged them to know the symptoms:
"Most people when they hear the word dementia will think of people in the later stages.
"People who, no longer can communicate and have lost a lot of the independence and a lot of the abilities but that is very much not the case.
"People are being diagnosed much earlier."
The event on Thursday was organised by Ards and North Down Borough Council which has a higher proportion of patients on the dementia register than the Northern Ireland average.
9.84 per 1000 patients compared to the province's average of 7.7 per 1000 patients.
The council is trying to make services more dementia friendly as part of its big plan in the community planning partnership.
Allison says it is essential that people living with dementia have access to public services with minimal distress:
"Shopping for me is my main thing.
"I can't go into big supermarkets, I just get totally disorientated and that causes real panic.
"I think the main thing is awareness and for more consultation to happen by different organisations with people with a dementia diagnosis.
"How they can make their services and the community more dementia friendly so that people can live independently."
Allison says she has been empowered by the support groups and meeting others with a diagnosis and urged anyone struggling to get help:
"Seek out support, don't hide away from it, don't deny it, find what's out there and what works for you.
"The empowerment groups for me and I would say, all the members that go to it are a lifesaver.
"They give you your life back, they give you great hope.
"Talk to others and get the support that you need."