Hello, all, and welcome back to the blog! Today, I am taking a step back from reviewing my experiences with Best Friends in order to analyze and connect with a TED Talk given by Beth Fauth in 2015 called "Finding Joy in an Alzheimer's Reality" to teach audience members the importance of their roles as caretakers for individuals with Alzheimer's (see video below).
Alzheimer's and dementia are topics which aren't discussed as
frequently as they should be, and when they are discussed, they are often spoken
of too seriously and accompanied by an air of tension. However, Fauth does not
do that. If you have ever been in the presence of someone who suffers from some
form of dementia, you'll know that there's probably a funny story or two to
share about your experiences. Fauth begins her speech with a light-hearted anecdote
from the beginnings of her interactions with Alzheimer’s patients, which hooks her
audience, creates a joyous mood to proceed with, and helps to establish her
credibility.
Throughout the speech, Fauth uses hand gestures and eye contact
with both the camera and audience members, helping to be visually appealing
since she has no visual aids or images to show. I would've personally loved to have seen some images, maybe statistics of the disease's prevalence, or of her with the individuals she references, just to help improve the speech for the visual learners. However, her vocals throughout the speech don’t aid in
engaging the audience, as she is slightly monotonous and takes many pauses that
can cause the audience to lose its train of thought and connection to the
moment. Despite the lack of visual aids and not-so-energetic vocalizations, the
content is well-developed and effectively helps audience members who are not so
familiar with individuals suffering from the disease to better understand why
we as volunteers have to go the extra mile to provide joy.
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| Beth Fauth delivering TED Talk |
The purpose of her speech is to help motivate volunteers and
family members of individuals with dementia to find happiness for the
individuals rather than always finding reality. She gives the example of a
woman asking where her husband is, when in reality he’d died three years ago,
but her memory doesn’t know that. Instead of telling the woman the devastating
truth over and over, Fauth says to respond to her emotions, rather than
reality. “Her reality, her facts are not real, but her emotions are, so we
respond to that.”
The
speech suggests that “we can validate them that their feelings are real, we can
distract them with something fun, and certainly we can provide them some
comfort.” Caretakers play a huge role in the quality of life for these
individuals, and Fauth’s use of real-life anecdotes and stories is very
effective in making the audience feel comfortable and ultimately more educated
on the topic. I personally connected very strongly with the message of the
speech as it relates so well to my volunteering, and there have been times
where I debated on telling the truth of reality or telling the individuals
things that would be comforting to them. Now, I can say that as I proceed with
my volunteering at Best Friends, I will be a better caretaker by helping to
consider the patient’s emotions rather than my reality. Though Fauth's presentation isn't incredibly visually appealing, it gets the message across and the stories keep the audience entertained, she defines terms that her audience may be unfamiliar with, and overall creates an effective speech, helping to promote better care taking for Alzheimer's.
Until next time,
Katelyn
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