Dementia Alliance International (DAI) is an advocacy and support organisation, of by and for people with dementia that I am involved in is seeking the support of more volunteers. Volunteering is rewarding, enjoyable, and a lot of fun. To live better than expected and to run this group, we need your help. About four of our Board members, and some…
The road to a confirmed diagnosis of one or other type of dementia is usually a difficult one, and one that research says can take at least three years for people under the age of 65. In very basic terms, being confirmed with dementia means at least two of the symptoms of dementia get in the…
Alix Spiegel (@lmillernpr) and Lulu Miller (@aspiegelnpr) from NPR Invisibilia in an Episode titled How to Become Batman, published online on Friday 23 January 2015, examine the surprising effect our expectations can have on the people around us. Plus, hear the story of a blind man who says expectations have helped him see. This is extremely relevant to the way…
Like one of my colleagues Dr Faizel Ibrahim, who is a senior Consultant Geriatrician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and also the person who brought Dignity in Care to South Australia and of which I am a member of the Dignity in Care Action group, I too am very concerned of the impact of the 2015-2016 STATE BUDGET…
This week, it is Dementia Awareness Week in the UK, and I have been publishing daily blogs on the Dementia Alliance International website as part of our contribution to it, in part because we have a lot of UK members, and also to highlight some of the presentations at ADI2015. The issues or topics facing people with…
It is Day 4 of Dementia Awareness Week in the UK, although I am almost a day ahead of them, and so my blogs are being read ahead of time there! However, this topic seems pertinent to write about again for this particular week. it is, of course, is on whether we should focus on behaviour…
There are many days it seems impossible to make a choice about whether you are happy or sad… and we all have to face challenges, the death of a loved one, and other things that can push us into the pit of misery. I often use an old fashioned set of weighing scales as a…
Re-blogged from D4Dementia, by Beth Britton, leading campaigner and activist for dementia in the UK… Think about the ‘Dementia Words’ that you use By Beth Britton, Monday, 11 May 2015 As this year’s Dementia Awareness Week rapidly approaches (17-23 May), I anticipate that there will be a surge in coverage related to dementia in the…
I’ve been metaphorically burned at the stake a number of times in my life, and it has almost always been for standing up for truth, standing up to someone, or standing up for something I believe in. I only ever make a real stand about things that I honestly believe matter, even if to begin with I’m…
Following on from my blog yesterday about feeling like a number of people on Facebook were indulging in cyber bullying against me, overnight, it raised to a new level, and I have reported some of them, and also deactivated my Facebook account. They self righteously say online they are not bullying me, but how it…
Lately, yet more ‘people’ online, who asked to be ‘friends’ on Facebook, have been dishing out what I felt was some extremely personal, mean and nasty feedback. I don’t even know if they are a really the people they say they are, or are using pseudonyms. Sadly, I thought we had resolved it privately, but it seems not as there was…
Soon, I believe, society will need to legislate for changes around inclusion in employment in the same way Aboriginal Australians had to, those people living with other disAbilities have had to, and in the way women have had to fight for equality for many years (sadly, these groups still have to), for any sense of…
It has been a busy couple of days, and after four presentations, and a lot of other things to do I am feeling exhausted. However, we have a conference dinner tonight, which John Sandblom and I are making a supreme effort to attend in part to honour ADI and Glenn Rees in particular for their support…
There are many surprises after a diagnosis of dementia, and I was chatting about some of them Monday night with friends from the UK. One of the most common is the ‘friends’ who disappear after they find our we have dementia. A few weeks ago I was interviewed on the telephone by one of the producers of the…
Today a number of people with dementia are either packing to travel to Perth for the 30th Alzheimer’s Disease International conference, or we are packed and almost on our way. To suggest people with dementia cannot live meaningful lives is a big mistake; the challenge for us is that upon diagnosis, we are usually written off! This…
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