I have a son who has struggled, since early grade school, with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. He's had to try to make people understand what it's like for a child to live with what people perceive as "an old people's disease."
Read the complete post at http://www.mindingoureldersblogs.com/2008/06/early-on-set-dementia-the-challenge-of-getting-people-to-understand.html