Theresa Clement, an Ambler, Pa.-based designer and TV personality, learned on the job that she could help people live better after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. She cannot slow the progression of the disease, but she describes what she calls a “Design Prescription.”
“I’m giving people some simple things that are inexpensive to do that can save so much stress, so much time, and make you be able to enjoy your loved ones even as they start to fade away,” Clement told philly.com.
Alzheimer’s disease is most known for how it can decimate a person’s memory, but people may also face visual challenges like depth perception, color perception, and contrasts.
“The brain takes things the eye sees and executes a wonderfully complicated task of telling us how far one thing is from another and knowing where one thing ends and another begins,” said Penn Memory Center Co-Director Jason Karlawish. “As Alzheimer’s disease affects the part of the brain that organizes visual images, people have a hard time understanding that.”
Click here to learn more about how design choices can improve the living conditions for people with Alzheimer’s disease.