Description
VAT Relief Eligible – Yes
Simple changes can help a person with dementia maintain their independence.
Living with dementia can make any familiar or unfamiliar environment feel daunting, leading to distress and agitation. And so, signage is important to our everyday lives. Signs help us to interpret, understand and manage new and familiar environments. We all have a ‘cognitive map.’ A mental picture of the places that are familiar. But unfamiliar environments make us more reliant on signs to help us navigate. Clever use of signs can help those with declining cognitive abilities to make the right decisions when finding their way around. Helping to maintain their independence.
Good dementia-friendly signage:
Vintage Library Sign to be fitted to the door (not the adjacent wall)
A person’s height can reduce by six inches as they age. Signs should be fitted in the line of sight at 1.3 metres above the ground
We recognise words by their shape. Each sign should have clear lettering which is easy to read and understand; a capital letter at the beginning of a word, followed by lower case
Signage should also include decent quality images to help identify the purpose of a room. This is particularly important for those people with dementia who can no longer read. It also helps those whose first language is not English or with learning difficulties. Using images rather than sketches means the pictures are clear and easily recognisable for those with sight impairment as well as memory issues
Vintage Library Sign should stand out and not be surrounded by other signs and information