When I walk my dog* in the morning, I often stop to chat with a developmentally disabled man who lives nearby. Let’s call him Henry. Henry asks how I’m doing, I ask how he’s doing, and we chat about the dog.
I don’t know much about Henry’s condition. From talking to other people in the neighborhood, I know he’s about 40. He and another guy (also DD, as far as I know) share an apartment. A couple of days a week he gets a ride to some kind of job. From this, I gather that he’s capable of taking care of himself to some extent, but requires some kind of supervision or assistance.
The thing that stands out most about Henry is that he has a devil of a time remembering details. For instance, when the first couple of times the Wonder Beagle and I ran into him, he’d ask me what my dog’s name was, what kind of dog he was, how old he was, etc. Five minutes later, he’d ask the same questions again. However, after those couple of encounters, he knew the dog’s name, and so on. Then he had more questions, which he asked several times over, and so on.
In a way, this reminds me of my partner’s mom, who has Alzheimer’s Disease. She’s simply got no short term memory, but she really wants to know about things and people, so she’ll ask the same questions over and over. The difference is, she never remembers, no matter how many times she asks. Her brain can’t do it anymore.
So I’ve found myself wondering about Henry. Outwardly, he seems healthy, but his capacity for learning is obviously severely limited. What happens to someone like this when they become elderly? Can they develop dementia (any of things we used to label “senile dementia”)? What would Alzheimer’s Disease look like in a developmentally disabled person?
*The Wonder Beagle, when he was alive, and now the New Dog, who has not yet revealed her true name to me.