About

Kate Swaffer is committed to meaningful dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders about the critical issues impacting a person living with a diagnosis of dementia and their loved ones,

and striving …
to be inspirational, motivated and positive; loving, adventurous, serious when I need to be; courteous, compassionate, kind, conscientious, courageous, thoughtful, honest, fun-loving, and attentive to detail. I also strive to be focused, to live a good life, to wear clean shoes and to use my manners.

Australian of the year, 2017, South Australia
University of Wollongong Alumni Social Impact Award, 2016
100 Women of Influence (Australia), 2016

I am living every day as if it’s my last, just in case it is. I urge you to do the same!

Signing up to this site means you will receive the link to my daily blog straight into your email inbox. I will NEVER share or sell your information.

I invite you to share or comment on my work by referring to them, but please do not reblog in full on your own site, nor copy and paste my blogs or poems, or reword them in a such a way that you feel you can claim authorship,  without first seeking my permission. Thank you.

Kate Swaffer © 2011/12/13/14/15/16/18/19 | Disability Rights Activist, Author, Speaker | All rights reserved. Subject to the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this online website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, printed, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

37 thoughts on “About”

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  7. Hello from cyberspace! What a happy discovery I have made in reading your blog! It’s always nice to meet someone who inspires, albeit in the ether. I will continue to follow you! Much joy!

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      • Dear Kate

        I wonder would it be possible for me to get a copy of the talk you gave at the Geneva Global Dementia summit in March 2015. I am currently writing a book on human rights and dementia and would very much like to use part of it in one of the chapters. Obviously if permission is granted I will acknowledge that this is your transcript.

        With kind regards
        Suzanne Cahill
        Director
        DSIDC
        St James’s hospital
        Dublin Ireland and
        Trinity College Ireland.

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  8. Pingback: Kate Swaffer is a terrific teacher, mentor, advocate, and human. She’s good peeps! | Dealing with Dementia

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  14. Kate, can I have your permission to copy this entry in your blog into my blog in its entirety? All necessary acknowledgements of the source and author will be made. This message needs to be read by everyone, whether family carer, PWD, extended family members, medical practitioners, professional carers and care facility managers. Thank you for posting.
    Peter

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  17. Pingback: Managing expectations when dealing with someone who has dementia « Dealing with Dementia

    • Thank you Sally. I have been awarded this before, but always find it very difficult to follow all the rules, so will now have another go at it! Glad you like my blog, and for showing me to yours, which I can keep up with now that I know about it. I really like the way you have themed it too.

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  22. Dear Kate, I shall follow your blog with interest. You have accepted your diagnosis early, and are not in denial. Wonderful! You are able to express what you see from what I would call “that side”. I may be able to understand my Joanna’s thinking as she progressed. I could only ever read her expressions, because verbal skills disappeared early. I have read a lot on Alzheimers, and tried to relate it to our experience. There are a lot of myths there. The journey begins a long time before awareness and diagnosis. Keep that brain working hard! Never relax! Jeff.

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    • Dear Jeff, I have just re-read this and realise now how long you have been following my journey. I also apologise for not responding to you at the time you wrote this. Strangely, it feels like we know each other now, and I would miss your regular feedback! Take care, and thank you once again for your support and encouragement. I did take your advice… I still don’t relax too much!! Kate

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