Thanks to Ita Buttrose, AO, OBE, an Australian journalist, businesswoman, television personality and author, and who was also Australia Of The Year in 2013 for inviting me to be interviewed on The Studio. Ita is a true media Icon, an inspiration for all women of all ages, and a woman who I feel lucky enough to call a…
Dementia / disAbility Rights / Discrimination / Human Rights / Living beyond dementia™ / Prescribed Disengagement ® / Stigma
It was a privilege to be interviewed on ABC Breakfast by Paul Kelly and Ali More, on 10 January 2017 in Melbourne. Almost better than that, was a family friend Jo Sullivan, a sports journalist who works there, who surprised me by escorting me to the studio (I had forgotten he worked there!!)! This is the interview:…
Daily Blog / Dementia / Poetry
The loneliness of my grief is sometimes like my private torment, only visible to my heart and soul… I try desperately to hide my tears, to live inside my ‘denial bubble’, but every now and then the pain escapes. It is then that I realise that my eyes are filled with tears, and the indescribable sadness,…
This is a slightly revised and updated list of tips from the one I published here last week with 17 tips. The day after that I also wrote one called My dementia Trumpet call, explaining a little why I’d put together a list in the first place. Of course, there was some angst from a…
In a blog comment this week about me handing things over to my BUB, I responded with this; ‘I have had to give up a couple of things this week, and hand the responsibility over to Pete.’ I felt physically SICK doing this, and incompetent, and guilty having to do so… even though I know he…
I’m particularly aware life probably is one big joke, as I had thought my blog had been set to private, then on the weekend through Twitter and Facebook, I discovered they are still publicly available. Hello. Here I am again, posting a rambling blog. So much for feeling the need to be more private! It…
I’m struggling to remember when this started, but today is another TBI Big Lunch, being held at the Adelaide Central Markets. It’s a remarkable day and brilliant fundraising event, specifically held to support the homeless community living in South Australia, who are also selling The Big Issue. I used to be a regular volunteer, and…
Over the last ten years of advocacy, which have somehow turned into global activism for change for all people with dementia and our families, I’ve often turned to the late Dr Martin Luther King Jnr. and Mrs Rosa Parks for inspiration. I quote them regularly in speeches. I think of them, some weeks almost daily.…
Originally posted by Dementia Alliance International today: Please join us online today for the DAI Side Event being hosted at the 12th Session of the Conference Of State Parties (COSP) on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Dementia: The leading cause of disability. The overarching theme is of social inclusion and health, which are…
I’m too old, and definitely past being worried if being too honest or too direct is seen as confronting or annoying. After all, just like you (sooner or later), I’m dying. To say I’m more than tired of the hidden agendas of academics and others in the dementia world, is a major understatement. Many, including…
Try as I might, I am currently really struggling to convince a group of global researchers on the importance of adding two simple things to a list of possible interventions following a diagnosis of dementia. It has got to the point, I feel discriminated and stigmatised by them, as most in the group generally seem…
Today I appeared at the last day of the dementia hearings as a witness at the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care. I’m feeling emotionally shattered by this. Unexpectedly so. This was in honour of the 50 million people living with dementia globally and our families. I also dedicated today’s attendance at the Hearing and…
