Tips to support people living with dementia

A guide to ways in which people with dementia say good communication would improve their lives. This resource has been developed by the Dementia Australia Advisory Committee (DAAC). The national representative group made up of people living with dementia.

When she was diagnosed with dementia at the age of fifty-eight, Wendy Mitchell was confronted with the most profound questions about life and identity. All at once, she had to say goodbye to the woman she used to be. Her demanding career in the NHS, her ability to drive, cook and run - the various shades of her independence - were suddenly gone.

Kate Swaffer was just 49 years old when she was diagnosed with a form of younger onset dementia. In this book, she offers an all-too-rare first-hand insight into that experience, sounding a clarion call for change in how we ensure a better quality of life for people with dementia. Kate describes vividly her experiences of living with dementia, exploring the effects of memory difficulties, loss of independence, leaving long-term employment, the impact on her teenage sons, and the enormous impact of the dementia diagnosis on her sense of self. Never shying away from difficult issues, she tackles head-on stigma, inadequacies in care and support, and the media's role in perpetuating myths about dementia, suggesting ways in which we can include and empower people with the diagnosis.

Keith Oliver was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010, and has since become a leading activist for dementia care, and an international speaker. Telling his story through a diary format, this book gives an unparalleled insight into what day-to-day life with dementia is like, and how he continued to live a full life after diagnosis.