If it is within your reach financially to donate to Dementia Alliance International to assist us with funds to support as many people with dementia and their care partners as possible to be able to attend the ADI Conference in Chicago, I would personally really appreciate it. Many of my friends have already donated to…
Recently I was chatting with one of my online friends with dementia in Canada, Christine T. She lives alone, so doesn’t have the luxury of the support of a partner to be her BUB. My BUB is at work every day, so in that time I’m doing it alone too. Anyway, Christine and I both…
Life with dementia is one very tough gig. Being a dementia activist though, makes a diagnosis of dementia seem easy! There are 24 hours in every day, and for about 18 of them, when I’m awake, I am constantly thinking of giving up my activism and even the more moderate advocacy. Thankfully people do appreciate…
Jessica Young who is a PhD student at Flinders University and Western University in Canada wrote a review of my first dementia book, and then asked me to respond to her review. The review was published recently in the Dementia Journal, was also published here today, and on her blog, as we have both been granted permission from…
I’ll continue to “PressForProgress for equal rights for all people with dementia (dementia also affects more women than men) I’ll continue to “PressForProgress for equal pay for women I’ll continue to “PressForProgress for equal numbers of woman as men in leadership roles I’ll continue to “PressForProgress against ALL forms…
This blog has been sitting in the drafts folder since December last year… and for some reason, today seems the right day to publish it. As tired as I am, and as so many others also are, and regardless of the progression of dementia, we must not give up, nor give in because of people who…
I’ve been reading and processing a lot of literature and published content about cyber bullying and defamation over many years, and now, more particularly, the impact of this on people who are diagnosed with dementia. This particular TED Talk is worth watching, and has informed my thinking; at some stage, I hope to publish a…
Below are some screen shots of some positive comments via email and twitter following an article I co authored with my dear friend and colleague Shibley Rahman. If I was able to, I would have embedded the twitter comments, but alas, even after quite a few attempts, I gave up! So far, we have only…
I’ve been working on this article since before May 2017, but wanting to get it published as a response to the WHO The Global Plan of Action on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017-2025 (Global Dementia Action Plan). This plan was unanimously adopted at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 2017, and…
The following video was published on YouTube by Human Rights Watch on February 5, 2018. Thanks to Susan MacCauley and Jason Burton from Alzheimer’s WA for highlighting it. Jason posted on LinkedIn: “Great new short video released to coincide with the Human Rights Report into misuse of antipsychotic medication in dementia care in USA. Hard…
Social media brings with it a lot of benefits for those who feel isolated, or simply want to feel part of an online community, but it also brings with it, a lot of unkindness. Too many people write things they would probably never say to your face, and the evidence for kindness is…
At the time, finding meaning in hostility publicly directed to you, at someone you love or towards something you represent, is not easy. Add in a diagnosis of dementia, and it is almost impossible, and seriously impacts ones ability to ‘paddle‘. In my case this also impacts the ability to speak as the PPA component…
Perhaps it is a great idea, but surely, labelling where we live, shop or eat and have coffee by our disease or condition, is simply another form of keeping the myths alive, as well as ensuring a continued sense of ‘otherness’. It is definitely another form of segregation. And yet, the emergence of Dementia Villages, or…
Following on from my last blog, I thought I’d share more on how dementia has changed my life, in particular how it has mostly been for the better. For instance, the image here of Snowy (TinTins dog) is a gift that was selected by Francis Wong, a wonderful colleague and now someone I am very…
This is the also the full article by Wong Kim Hoh the Straits Times Senior Writer, It Changed My Life: Author, activist and poet living with dementia, an interview done for The Straits Times in Asia last year during my trip to support Alzheimer’s Disease Association Singapore. Dementia definitely changed my life. Mostly, for the better. (Kate Swaffer, © 2018)…
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