Introduction. 1. Grandad - can you go and get a new brain? Graham Browne. 2. Are you sure you've got Alzheimer's? Alex Burton. 3. A doctor in search of a diagnosis. Jennifer Bute. 4. I'll ken it when I see it. Ross Campbell. 5. Liberation! Dizi Conti. 6. I'm gone older. Everything change. Romanina Contucci. 7. Riding the rollercoaster. Carol Cronk. 8. I still remember. Halide Eames. 9. I never get tired of dancing. Midge Flint. 10. They deal with everybody as an individual. Clarice Hall. 11. One place to another. Abdul Haque. 12. A double diagnosis. Brian Hennell. 13 Anybody been kind to me, it stays with me. Pearl Hylton. 14. Love me for who I am. Ann Johnson. 15. Down with Dementia. Sylvia Kahn. 16. Deciding to resist. Lazarus. 17. You keep-a-knockin' but you can't come in. Alex Lindsay. 18. The doors of perception. Edward McLaughlin. 19. Journey into Alzheimerland. Peter Mittler. 20. Who's afraid of the flying bombs? Lorna Moore. 21. Time to break the taboo. Rukiya Mukadam. 22. Something better. Mary Tall. 23. A Psychiatrist with Dementia. Daphne Wallace. Appendix I: Editing Challenges. Appendix II: Narrative Based Medicine. Appendix III: LGBT People with Dementia. Afterword by Graham Stokes.
This anthology of personal accounts reveals the tremendous diversity of people living with dementia
Lucy Whitman is a writer, editor and trainer, and a former teacher in further education. She cared for her mother who had dementia, which inspired her first anthology, Telling Tales About Dementia: Experiences of Caring, also published by JKP. Lucy has worked extensively with family carers, and writes regularly for the Journal of Dementia Care. She lives in London, UK.
People with Dementia Speak Out is a celebration of people living,
loving, learning, changing and growing with dementia. It is a rich
and multi-dimensional collection of first-person accounts from
people living with dementia. Each story combines people's
reflections on their life stories - which are hugely diverse -
woven together with accounts of their growing awareness of
difficulties and the impact of dementia on their lives. These
stories are about identities and how dementia becomes another
aspect of people's lives - but not the only aspect.
This collection has been thoughtfully edited by Lucy Whitman, who
usefully shares her reflections on a complex editorial process that
succeeds in retaining the diversity of experience, personality and
language style that in turn helps to convey the realities - the
highs and lows of how dementia is incorporated into people's lives
and identities - and the sheer resilience with which people respond
to such major life changes.
People's voices, wishes, hopes and concerns ring out from every
page of this book. This is a must read for those who want to hear
and understand the voices of people who are living with
dementia.
*Rachael Litherland, Co-director, Innovations in Dementia CIC*
Although I have read many books on dementia in the four years since
I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, seldom have I engaged
with one which has informed and moved me as much as this one. Lucy
and her co-authors will inspire, challenge, and yet reassure you in
equal measure, whether you are affected by dementia personally, or
are a professional caring for us. The people in this book "speak
out" through story-telling, conveying a human narrative around
living well with dementia. The message they all so sincerely convey
is based upon everyone being different, with personhood at the
centre, whilst sharing a common bond and a desire to reduce stigma
and misunderstandings, and replace them with hope and belief.
*Keith Oliver, Dementia Service User Envoy, Kent & Medway NHS and
Social Care Partnership Trust*
Everyone working in dementia care should read this important book.
Powerful and moving, these stories drive home what must be the
guiding principle of all our work: to see and know each person as
an individual all the way from first contact to later difficult
times. Many contributors relate a stark lack of support after
diagnosis but there are bright lights of positive services too,
highlighting especially how vital mutual support groups can be.
*Sue Benson, Managing Editor, Journal of Dementia Care*
In a better world, Lucy Whitman's book would be required reading in
schools. It brings alive the experience of living with dementia
through the stories of people from all walks of life in the UK, and
eloquently illustrates the theme of the 2013 report by the All
Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia: Dementia does not
discriminate. Importantly, Lucy has made every effort to ensure all
the contributors tell their story in their own way. A valuable,
evocative and commendable testimony to the importance of seeing the
person, not the dementia.
*David Truswell, NHS Senior Project Manager & Trustee of Culture
Dementia UK*
It is clear from this book that people living with dementia are
engaged in a daily struggle to retain their distinctive individual
personalities and identities linked to their own specific histories
and life stories. It is therefore gratifying to see the care, skill
and subtlety deployed in this volume to capture the unique voices
and turns of expression of the participants, including where these
occasionally conflict with the conventions and norms of written
Standard English.
*Dr Roxy Harris, Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication,
Kings College London*
Make no mistake, this is a major work of scholarship, as well as
taking us several steps forward in understanding the significance
of dementia to individuals and their need for appropriate help.
In her first book, Telling Tales about Dementia, Lucy Whitman
established herself as a visionary communicator; this book raised
awareness and respect for people with dementia and their families.
It has influenced how we respond to their needs and has helped
many, through the sharing and comparing of stories.
In People with Dementia Speak Out she opens the book on life as
seen by individuals actually living with dementia, bringing
together the perspectives of 23 authors. She explains her
methodology and influences in three illuminating appendices. The
range is wide, with a mixture of older people and those who have
early onset dementia, and contributors born in many different
countries.
These are not tales of sorrow and suffering. In every one, the main
theme is the whole life story of the PERSON. Dementia comes as but
one experience, one part of one period - the final period - woven
onto and into a fabric which has lasted years.
There is much wisdom here. These stories will bring smiles and
tears, anger and determination. Most importantly they will spread a
better understanding - and hopefully we will use this to best
effect.
*Professor David Jolley, Consultant Psychiatrist and Honorary
Reader in Old Age Psychiatry, University of Manchester*
I read Lucy Whitman's first book - Telling Tales About Dementia:
Experiences of Caring - and found it riveting. I frequently
recommend it as essential reading for those working in this field.
It presents an expertly edited text that accurately reflects a
range of carer experiences. Shortly after its publication she
mentioned to me that she was considering a 'sister' text that
portrayed the experiences and narratives of people with dementia to
which I stated that this would be an excellent accompaniment to
Telling Tales. We are starting to see an emerging number of books
that give first hand narrative to what it is to have dementia.
People with Dementia Speak Out!, Lucy's second edited text, makes a
valuable contribution to this small but growing body of
knowledge.
*Karen Harrison Dening, Director of Admiral Nursing, Dementia UK*
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