Let’s for the sake of brevity keep the definition of ‘stigma’ short – but of course it has to be attempted in some way. Stigma, according to the current Oxford English Dictionary is defined as follows firstly. “A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person:the stigma of mental disorder to be […]
How will we know when the war against stigma in dementia is won? We won’t. I once went to see Kay Redfield Jamison talk at the Society for Neurosciences conference in Miami in the late 1990s. She is both a professor of psychiatry and lives with from bipolar disorder. She has previously gone on record to identify […]
The literature on stigma is comprehensive. But Kate Swaffer added to it beautifully in the journal ‘Dementia’, with an article today – on open access – entitled “Dementia: Stigma, language and dementia friendly”. Kate refers to a blogpost by Ken Clasper, a Dementia Friends Champion, which asks, sensibly, what we are trying to achieve with […]
The following is the draft of an extract from my chapter “Stigma, citizenship and living better with dementia” in “Living better with dementia: how champions can break down the barriers”, by Shibley Rahman with Forewords by Prof Alistair Burns, Kate Swaffer and Chris Roberts. The really important question therefore is: how can people living […]
OK it’s not heaven on earth – but Kentish Town London does have some merits I suppose. To say that I am passionate about the dementia policy in England is an understatement. Throwing forward, I believe living well with dementia is a crucial policy plank (here’s my article in ‘ETHOS journal’), for which service provision […]
There’ll be a third of people roughly who’ll hate whatever you do. There’ll be a third of people roughly who’ll love whatever you do. There’ll be a third of people roughly who’ll be completely indifferent. This is advice my father gave to me shortly before he died. In society, there will always be a hardcore […]
Language is very important. Only this week, the media was stuffed full of talk of dementia being a ‘horrible disease’, and people ‘suffering’. A recent Telegraph article cited, “Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says it is “utterly shocking” that only half of people suffering from dementia are being formally diagnosed.” Society has a certain image of […]
