Page 6 - Changes and Challenges

Dementia
Changes and Challenges

Why This Booklet?
Many things have been written about Dementia, but too few reflect our lived
experience. Often the emphasis is purely clinical and dismisses much of our
experience. This often leads to further entrenchment of the stigma around
Dementia and to the perpetuation of many miss-truths about Dementia.

I have taken inspiration for this work from Agnes Houston who prepared a
leaflet entitled “Dementia & Sensory Challenges” and from many
conversations I have had with my many friends living with Dementia. I think it
important that I share our experiences and insights.

Through this I hope to do three things;

• First, to help others on their journeys with Dementia,
• Secondly, to inform others who care, and
• Thirdly, to hopefully inspire people to investigate further and to find
more and better solutions.

When I speak, it is not just with my voice, but from the experiences of many
other, both locally and from around the world.

About Dementia.

Dementia is an umbrella term for somewhere between 100 and 200 different
conditions. What they all have in common include the following;

• They are all degenerative diseases of the brain,
• They impact significantly on our ability to perform what where every
day and normal tasks,
• They are progressive, with their impact becoming more severe over
time,
• Ultimately, they are all fatal (though they can often be “slowed” by
the right “care”),
• There are few affective treatments.

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