‘Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s can feel like a prison term spent in solitary confinement.’ Gran & Grandad (circa 1975) Carers for people with Alzhimer’s are faced with five key problems: - **Technological Disenfranchisement** carers of people with Alzheimer’s are normally their spouse or partner and are therefore of the same approximate age as the cared-for. This means that the carer has the associated disenfranchisement with: technology, computers, the Web, and digital-life in general, as would be expected of any senior citizen; - **Isolation** people with Alzheimer’s become increasingly dependent on their carer.

Last week I proposed that we moderate or move our accessibility, assistive technology, rehabilitation engineering, and eHealth efforts away from direct solutions for people with Alzheimer’s and start to concentrate more on those who do the caring. Based on our experiences, there are seven pieces of practical advice I’d like to give to families who will soon become carers, and the elucidation of some of the unique problems we need to think about with regard to technical provision (next week).