Parables of Care - a free comic about dementia that will touch your heart

Here's a touching new comic you can read for free online: Parables of Care. Creative Responses to Dementia Care, as Told by Carers is now available. 

This16-page publication presents true stories of creative responses to dementia care, as told by carers, drawn by Dr Simon Grennan (whose credits include the graphic novel, Disspossession) with Christopher Sperandio, and edited and adapted by Simon, Dr Ernesto Priego (City, University of London, who downthetubes readers will recognise as editor at the Comics Grid) and Dr Peter Wilkins (Douglas College).

It's a short comic, but there are some lovely one page strips included that will touch your heart, especially if you have had direct experience of, or cared for dementia sufferers. Some won't make for an easy read, but others offer valuable ideas for coping with stressful situations for both sufferers and carers.

The comic - available as a free online download, or, if you live in the UK, available as a print comic by order, is is a project of the Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design, City, University of London, The University of Chester, UK, and the Douglas College in Vancouver, Canada.

"Research has shown that comics have the potential to have a positive impact on the health and quality of life of people who engage in comics reading and creation," says Ernesto, "contributing to transform attitudes, awareness and behaviour around illness and contributing to create new opportunities for empowerment and more positive behaviour.

"Parables of Care explores the potential of comics to enhance the impact of dementia care research in particular - and seeks to make a contribution to enhancing the public impact of the best practices in dementia care resulting from City HCID research by exploring and embracing the communicative affordances of graphic storytelling in general and graphic medicine in specific.

"We hope that Parables of Care contributes to enabling stronger links between academia, dementia care practice and comics scholars and practitioners."

This is a smashing, thought-provoking short read, well worth your coffee or tea break. Check it out.

• Download Parables of Care. Creative Responses to Dementia Care, as Told by Carers  as a PDF file, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, from City Research Online here - there is no need to register, just click on 'download' next to the file thumbnail

• If you live in the UK you can request printed copies at no cost here

• Read more about the project here