Alzheimer's Disease in India: "Dementia in Hindi", by Swapna Kishore, India.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

"Dementia in Hindi", by Swapna Kishore, India.

‎"The background: Over a year ago I started worrying about the paucity of online (and print) material in Indian languages for dementia caregivers. This “worry” was active enough for me to wonder what I could do about the lack of material.

My concern was spurred after someone in Madhya Pradesh contacted me – he was using Internet on his mobile and wanted material in Hindi so that he and his family

could better support an early-onset dementia patient.

I helped him through phone calls and by sending across some material I had.

However, I felt concerned about how difficult things must be for someone like him who wanted support. Around July/ August last year I started exploring options for creating Hindi material myself.

A few months later I made my first Hindi video and placed it on youtube, and in December I shared my thoughts and experiments in a 4-part blog entry (For part 1 of this series, click here: Adventures in Hindi Part 1)."...

...."they may not have considered whether the available material is:

understandable and usable by audiences in India (fitting into the cultural context)
in languages that people can read/ understand )
with links in forums such people can access )
accessible on the type of online platforms such audiences use )
accessible to people not in metros )
accessible to people who don’t have online access/ find it expensive)

I could expand the list into a much longer one, but I’m sure you get the point

So, in my opinion, there is not enough suitable material in India given the diversity of our people, the sheer number of languages, the geographical and economic spread, the enormous awareness gap to bridge and what not. The gap between what is needed and what is available seems huge to me.

And here is my request to you, whether you are a volunteer or a caregiver who has experiences to share: if you are comfortable enough to create material in an Indian language — whether just talking of your experience, or sharing some structured material or some data — please do consider it. The online space is open and waiting for you.

Maybe the material you create or the video you make will not go viral. There may be no award to be won. There may be no appreciation/ brownie points from peers. But the one person who reaches your material could be someone whose life will be made different by reading or hearing what you have to say.

Main links referred to in this post