[From being a child to being ill; changes in thinking about Alzheimer's disease].

In 1984 the public consciousness about Alzheimer's disease radically changed. Suddenly, especially in the media, a tremendous interest in the phenomenon arose. In the years before, there was hardly any public knowledge about 'Alzheimer's disease'. Mental deterioration was seen as a natural and inevitable part of a human being's course of life. Starting in 1984 however, this deterioration was seen as the most dreaded disease that could struck a person. The disease seemed to rob a person from its most essential abilities: the ability to think, to communicate and to be an individual. This new disease concept had clear advantages for many parties: scientists could develop new knowledge; healthy elderly were protected against stereotypes about their age; and the elderly who actually deteriorated seriously, could blame this on a disease, something they could do nothing about. In the year 1984, the foundation of this Alzheimer revolution was laid.