In the course of my writing I’ve recently spoken to several people with dementia.  There’s a natural selection process at work – it would be useless and inappropriate for the Alzheimer’s Society or Dementia UK to put up for interview anyone who is too confused or has lost the power of speech.

But as someone whose own mother had dementia for the last few years of her life, I have been delighted and humbled by the articulacy of those I’ve interviewed.  I immediately knew that to describe them as sufferers wouldn’t be right and I tried, from that moment, to avoid the term.

Of course, as ever with language, the issue runs much deeper than the words themselves.  The dementia community – those living with the condition, their carers, medics and other related professionals – are questioning not just the terminology used by wider society, but our attitudes.

How the rest of us describe those with dementia, how we talk about them, reflects how we think of them.   Already, by using the words “us” and “them”, I have erected a subtle verbal barrier that I don’t like, but what irks me isn’t the point here.

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Follow the link, it is definitely worth it. Thank you Pippa for your friendship, wisdom and insight.