Social media often gets a bad press, sometimes justifiably so, but it can be an amazing place to connect with people who share our views and experiences too. Something came my way last week that fits into that positive category…
Tag: social care
Cure the care system? I wish
How ironic that in the week before Dementia Action Week, this year themed around social care reform, the latest Queen’s Speech yet again failed to provide detailed plans to address the issues that have plagued the care system for years.…
Making meaningful conversation
“When was the last time you really engaged with a person living with dementia?” This was a question I posed during a recent online training session I ran with a small group of social care staff. Some of the…
Knowledge is power
One of the loveliest parts of my work is being able to help people by sharing our experiences as a family, augmented by what I have learnt from my campaigning and consultancy in the 8+ years since my dad died.…
Demanding better for people with dementia
Ordinarily, September is dominated for me by World Alzheimer’s Month (or World Dementia Month as I prefer to call it), which in practice means 30 days of sharing all of the great content, ideas and initiatives that lots of fantastic…
‘Old’ normal, ‘new’ normal or time to make a ‘better’ normal?
For the last four months I’ve written about different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. For July, I want to think about life post-lockdown and pose these questions: What do we REALLY want ‘normal’ life to look like now? Is a…
Coronavirus and living with dementia – Coping in unprecedented times
It’s not easy to know where to begin with a blog on the current monumentally uncertain times that the world is facing, but I’m going to attempt to address the coronavirus disaster (I don’t think the word crisis goes far…
Who is really challenging?
As regular readers of D4Dementia will know, I’ve long been a supporter (including through the National Dementia Action Alliance Campaign ‘Dementia Words Matter’) of using respectful language – as defined by people living with dementia – when communicating about dementia. I…
Resolve to ask people with dementia what THEY want
With over 200 blogs on D4Dementia, some of them now 7 years old, I’ve decided to spend my 2019 year of blogging by re-visiting some of the topics I’ve covered previously, throwing fresh light on why they remain relevant, and…
Resolve to tackle loneliness
“It’ll be lonely this Christmas Without you to hold It’ll be lonely this Christmas Lonely and cold.” So sang English glam rock band Mud (in the style of Elvis Presley) to top the UK singles chart in 1974, selling over…
A celebration of what is possible
As another September brings World Alzheimer’s Month, there is always the temptation to write a blog that points out how much we still need to do to improve awareness, care and support for people who are living with dementia and…
Supporting LGBT people with dementia
Almost a year ago (September 2017) saw the launch of the Dementia Action Alliance’s (DAA) ‘From Seldom Heard to Seen and Heard’ Campaign. The campaign focuses on people living with dementia and their families from six communities who are often marginalised…
Kathy’s story – Living with a learning disability and dementia
Imagine reaching your 40’s or 50’s having lived your whole life in the shadows of discrimination, exclusion, social stigma and poor treatment within many health and social care services… and then developing dementia. You’re younger than the majority of people…