By Alex Britton

Growing up, I watched Alzheimer’s disease impact the lives of my grandparents. I’ve seen how each stage affected not only their lives, but the lives of their loved ones as well. That’s why when the opportunity presented itself, I was honored to have a platform where I could share knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease with my peers.

I am a current junior at the University of Washington studying visual communications design. Last quarter, my professor (Chris Ozubko) assigned us a project: Create a short video presenting a health topic. He provided an extensive list of possible topics, and I immediately noticed Alzheimer’s disease on that list. I knew right away this was the topic I wanted to present in my video.

Giving us almost complete creative freedom on the structure of the video, my professor allowed us to ask ourselves the question, “How should information about this topic be presented?” The answer was different for each student.

Personally, I knew I wanted to present the facts about Alzheimer’s that are often overlooked. Many of my peers already knew this disease affects memory in the elderly, but they didn’t often know the how or why behind these effects. I wanted to share deeper knowledge about the disease with those who weren’t very familiar with it, because I believe widespread education is the first step to curing this disease.

The Alzheimer’s Association has always been a special organization to me and my family, so when I was approached to share my video through their platform, I was excited and honored to do so. I hope this video can educate many people, and urge them to join in on the fight to end Alzheimer’s.