In recent months and years, I have finally found my ‘tribe’, other people who are truth-tellers, and who refuse to stay silent on the matters that impact and harm them, and harm others. Some are academics and/or activists, and many, like me, have survived trauma. These are people also appear to have put their quest…
Watch the recording of this important community discussion, exploring how institutionalization has long operated as a tool of social control, disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities, manifesting today in the expansion of involuntary commitment directives nationally. The work being done by the event organiser, the Institute for the Development of Human Arts is very relevant…
If you live in Adelaide, or can travel here, and are interested in the regulation of detention, and other restrictive practices in aged care facilities in Australia, you will be interested in the following seminar, being hosted by the Law School at the University of Adelaide. I’m very pleased to be invited, to present on…
Monday 13 February 2023 was a significant day for First Nations Australians. 15 years ago was the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, acknowledging the profound harms and trauma inflicted to First Nations people. The then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said sorry, one of the first steps towards healing, but we are still such a…
‘How can we redress and repair violence, abuse and neglect of people living with dementia in residential aged care?’ People living with dementia have been subject to significant harm, including violence, abuse, and neglect in aged care in Australia. Yet, this harm is rarely recognised and redressed. People living with dementia in aged care, as well as…
A colleague and friend Tina Minkowitz* works towards the rights of survivors of psychiatric abuse, and runs a course for activists and allies on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities from a Survivor of Psychiatry Perspective. Her article on disability and incarceration is worth a read, even if you don’t have time…
I’m a member of the Australian OPCAT Network, and with permission, am posting a revised version of the contents of an email from the network here. As people with dementia living in residential aged care which they are locked in, and segregated, they too are living in places of detention, hence my interest in OPCAT.…
Movie Spoiler Alert. We recently watched a movie featuring Tom Hanks called ‘Otto’ which was poignant, sweet and funny. Hanks is an incredible actor and I was looking forward to seeing it, and from the trailer, thought it was going to be a modern day improved version of ‘Gumpy Old Men’. However, it may be…
As another year comes to an end, and christmas nears, for me, and for many of us, our grief reappears, sometimes in painful and unexpected ways. To have have loved, means you will grieve… It if is a first Christmas since someone you loved has died, it will likely be one of the toughest, and…
Go to YouTube to read the captioning.
The University of Wollongong (UOW) has developed a program to ensure their community of students and staff are included, valued and respected. This is so much better than the dementia friendly initiatives, which has done so little to improve the respect and inclusion of people with dementia. Not have these initiatives reduced the stigma, discrimination,…
Anyone who has followed me here for a while will know that in 2008, following a diagnosis made by my neurologist of a young onset dementia, I was advised to prepare to die, via aged care respite, which I ultimately trademarked as, Prescribed Disengagement. I was not supported to live well, or positively at all,…
Back in 2011 when I first started writing for this blog, I wrote a short piece about making sense of dementia. I’d just spent time with Christine Bryden, and a group of care providers, who all appeared commiitted to making change. Over time, I have edited and updated it to reflect the many changes that…
There are many thing to consider and discuss on the topic os music and dementia, as mostly, professionals talk about music and dementia as if it a ‘solution’ to engagement, to loneliness, and so on, in the same way reminiscence therapy is often used and discussed. Music as therapy and engagement is a huge area…
Integrity versus Honesty can mean different things to different people. From my perspective, both are extremely important, and the biggest test of integrity, is doing the right thing, when no one is looking, and to me, is what integrity means in real life. The way we act, not the words we say. Words are cheap.…
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