Loyalty, dementia and giving a damn!

Giving a shit is really what I’d have liked to used in the title, but I was trying not to be rude… Oh well, I’ve now failed on that front too!!! People with dementia need a lot of encouragement to keep going, to keep aspiring for change, to stay energised as advocates for themselves and…

Photographs, disAbilities and dementia…

In November 2012 I received this in an email from a friend with dementia: “Hi all, I have a huge problem with names, is there any way that a thumbnail could accompany emails so I know who I’m talking with?” In my list of contacts, and apart from me, the only person to have done…

Dementia and self esteem

Unfortunately, I had low self esteem right into my thirties, like a dark cloud hanging out in the background of my subconscious. I was quite shy as a child, and always wanting approval as we rarely received positive feedback, no matter how well we did at something. My self esteem developed after many years of reading and attending…

The emotional toll of letting go for a PWD

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…

Overlooking reality

This morning, I received an email from SF (someone I don’t know), whose first name is the same as a girlfriend SP, and whose last name is the same as my girlfriend’s husband’s first name. My mind played tricks on me, and I saw it as coming from my girlfriend, a not uncommon mistake that…

Losing the sense of who I am

On national television recently I heard a woman who had been retrenched from her job make the comment I have lost the sense of who I am. This was very relevant to me as having to give up my paid employment, because of the symptoms of dementia, was very difficult. No-one ever asked me how it…

Dementia friendly?

The idea of society being dementia friendly, in the same way it accommodates others with disabilities, for example the sight impaired or people in wheelchairs, is something to aspire to. In a report Creating Dementia Friendly Physical & Social Environments: A new resource for residential & respite care facilities funded by the Victorian government it…

Restraints and labels… a new perspective

I have blogged about the use of restraints for people in aged care and/or with dementia, both physical and pharmacological, and how I think it is a crime against our human rights. There is another blog brewing on this, and I still  think it is a disgrace but have no idea (yet) how we can change…