Menopause Support founder Diane Danzebrink has been speaking out about her own experiences after taking part in a novel high-tech experience designed to bring the subject to people’s attention.
Diane (second left) seen co-leading an immersive VR menopause project (Image: Will Durrant/LDRS)
Diane visited Watford on Monday, March 27 after the borough council voted to step up its efforts to support everyone who is directly or indirectly affected by menopause. And those attending the session donned VR headsets for a more emotional and immersive way of learning about menopause.
Diane is on a mission to stop women, trans men, intersex or non-binary people and their partners from living through menopause with unanswered questions. Menopause is not a “women’s issue” – it’s a natural part of life which men should learn more about and accept.
Speaking about her own experience : “It got to the point where I wouldn’t leave the house, I wouldn’t answer the telephone, as ridiculous as it sounds I wouldn’t open post because I believed in my irrational mind that anything that came into the house was going to be negative,” Diane told Will Durrant of the Local Democracy Reporting Service, His story appeared on Herts Online.
“We should ensure that every woman receives an information booklet prior to her 40th birthday with a letter similar to the booklet she would receive for her breast screening or cervical screening,” Diane added. “That wouldn’t cover everybody, because some people go through menopause prematurely under the age of 40, and it doesn’t cover people assigned female at birth who do not identify as women, which is why we need a public information in bars or libraries, on buses, tubes and trains.
“We need factual, evidence-based information not just for women, but for people who will not go through the menopause directly – such as male bosses or partners. Watford has made a good start. They’re talking about it and the next step is to run public events to interact with the community and really normalise the conversation.”
Diane has teamed up with Liz Cunningham of Letchworth-based Forward Slash Films to develop an immersive virtual reality “empathy and understanding” experience. The technology has been proved to work well witrh small groups and allows for a much more powerful experience compared to lectures and ordinary video. Eventually the campaign plans to have a bank of people’s individual experiences of menopause to help explain the subject. More information can be found soon at https://www.menopausereality.com/
Councillor Jennifer Pattinson (LD, Meriden) proposed the council motion to support #MakeMenopauseMatter and took part in the VR experience.