Ticketyboo (ATOM Study Guide)

Ticketyboo is a deeply moving, heartfelt and personal exploration of dementia. Journalist Renee Brack investigates her father's experience of the illness and her own fraught and complicated response to it, alongside the implications it may hold for her future.

Dementia effects half a million people in Australia and it is estimated that 1.6 million people are involved in the care of someone living with dementia. It is the second cause of death for Australians, just behind heart disease; and it is the leading cause of death in Australian women. Across the world, 44 million people live with dementia. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the dementia of parents, partners, siblings or friends. And as much of the world confronts the complexities of ageing populations, dementia will become an inescapable challenge for societies, families and individuals. This is an illness that will touch all of us in some way.

Ticketyboo is an important film, fearless in its confrontation with a topic shrouded in fear and myth, and ultimately hopeful about how we can connect and support each other as we move towards a more compassionate understanding of this cruel illness. Renee's very personal story invites us to consider how we could best support a loved one diagnosed with dementia, and how we can plan for our final years. But more than one brave woman's story, Ticketyboo sets Renee's journey squarely in the context of the Royal Commission into Aged Care. It is, in the finest sense of the word, a political document that holds us all to account, demanding we tackle our society's shocking failures of the elderly and our own complicity.

Curriculum Links:

Ticketyboo demands to be seen by as wide an audience as possible and could be utilised in a range of contexts, including: at a tertiary level; informally, in community settings such as film and discussion clubs; and with University of the 3rd Age style adult education programs. The activities in this guide are aimed at middle and senior secondary students, but hopefully the resources and discussion ideas have application beyond that school setting.

In the secondary school context, Ticketyboo has an array of teaching and learning applications. It could be screened as a stand-alone unit or as an adjunct to an area of study with overlapping themes. This Guide is intended to be adapted as required; it is deliberately broad and open-ended, with the idea that teachers will pick and choose resources and activities that are useful and relevant. Most tasks can be situated in the Key Learning Areas of:

• English (Years 9–10)
• Humanities
• Psychology
• Health and Physical Education (Years 9–10)

Additional general capabilities that can be explored through Ticketyboo are:

• Literacy
• ICT
• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Ethical Understanding