For the last five months I’ve written about different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. For August, I want to think about the consequences of the required reduction in social interaction on people with dementia during lockdown. Is it all…
Tag: isolation
‘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…
We are family – A Dementia Action Week blog
With over 200 blogs on D4Dementia now, some of them approaching 7 years old this month, 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…
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…
Bringing the generations together
There have been few documentaries I’ve enjoyed as much as Channel 4’s ‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’. For me it ticked every box – it featured some amazing older people (the oldest was 102) and pre-school children (the…
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…
Living with dementia in a rural community
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 from services and…
Why culture matters in dementia care
Last month 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 from services and…
Missing the morning chorus – Life with hearing loss
Hearing is one of the senses that I believe many people take for granted. I think the general assumption most of us make is that we are hearing everything, or at least everything we think we need to hear, and that…
Driving, dementia, and doing the right thing
Whenever dementia diagnosis is discussed, one of the major barriers that explains why people delay seeking a diagnosis is the fear of giving up driving. It is understandable and something I can relate to. I live in a very rural…
15-minutes of shame
As a light was shone, yet again, on the huge inadequacies within our home care services as the issue of 15-minute visits hit the headlines, I decided to time my morning routine. Just how much could I as an able-bodied…
Let’s talk about dementia – Silence
Welcome to the seventh of my seven ‘mini’ blogs for UK Dementia Awareness Week 2013. They are all themed around talking about dementia, exploring different aspects of conversation from the point of view of people who are living with dementia, carers and…
Power to the people
If you are a family carer you will know only too well the emotional, physical and mental toll that caring can take on even the fittest, healthiest and most positive people. The very nature of caring means it is relentless,…