Oliver Sacks, Fairfield University’s Open Visions Forum speaker, gave a lecture to a nearly full audience about Alzheimer’s and its slow and dehumanizing effect. Sacks addressed Alzheimer’s mutation history and how it developed into its recent common identity.
Sacks’ personal and touching experiences with the disease were interposed with in-depth descriptions of each of the three phases of Alzheimer’s. As an expert on Alzheimer’s disease, Sacks has written nine books that have been translated into 22 languages.
Sacks candidly spoke to the audience about his believes that Alzheimer’s is the worst diagnoses. The importance of establishing and preserving an Alzheimer patient’s individuality and dignity was heavily emphasized during the lecture.
Sacks told one story about a director of a hospital who came back to the hospital as a patient after having retired. The hospital was so familiar to the former director that as a patient, he grabbed a coat and started making rounds. Sacks explain ed that when the patient saw his own name on the clip board, he lost his sense of self and will to live.
“I don’t know the moral of the story,” Sacks said, “but one does need an identity to live.”
Sacks was born on July 9, 1933 into a medical family. Sacks got his degree from Oxford University in 1958 and has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1966.
Overall, the reaction of the crowd was mixed. Some listeners familiar with Sacks’ books and essays were not particularly impressed by his speaking abilities.
“He was not a good speaker. I was disappointed. I had high hopes and they were dashed,” said Kathleen Harlen.
Some students disagreed.
“I got great insight from him. He spoke about a topic college students don’t typically know very much about,” said Rachel Hamilton ’08.
University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx S.J. was also impressed.
“It was wonderful – extraordinarily fascinating,” he said. “He’s the kind of doctor we’d all like to have.”
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