The politics of dementia in an uncertain era

The gap between policy ideals and the realities that people living with dementia face.

The first workshop in the ‘Shifting Paradigms for Dementia’ seminar programme focused on the gap between policy ideals and the realities that people living with dementia face in Scotland and beyond, and was led by speakers who are either living with dementia, or represent organisations of people living with dementia. A number of people living with dementia attended, doing so with the assistance of the Dementia Engagement and Empowerment project.

Delegates heard the powerful testimonies of Joy Watson and Agnes Watson – talking about their experiences of engaging with the state and the dementia assessment respectively – while Philly Hare (Innovations in Dementia) looked at the role human rights should play in dementia policy making and Paul Thomas (Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project) discussed responses to the third Scottish Dementia Strategy.

The programme for the seminar is listed below and full details of the individual talks can be found via the links at the bottom of this page.

10.00-10.15: Introduction to the seminar series
Grant Gibson – University of Stirling

Morning session – Dementia, citizenship, and everyday life– experiences of people living with dementia

10.15-10.45: Session 1
Dementia and experiences of engaging with the state
Joy Watson – Dementia Diaries

10.45-11.15: Session 2
Experiences of the Dementia assessment
Agnes Houston MBE – Dementia Alumni and Scottish Dementia Working Group

11.15-11.30: Coffee Break

11.30-12.30: Morning workshop
Critiquing dementia friendliness, perspectives from everyday life

12.30-13.30: Lunch

Afternoon session – continuing to promote citizenship and dementia in Scotland

13.30-14.00: Session 3
Starting with Rights: looking through the other end of the telescope
Philly Hare – Director, Innovations in Dementia

14.00-14.30: Session 4
Scottish Dementia Strategy
Paul Thomas – Dementia Engagement and Empowerment project

14.30-14.45: Coffee Break

14.45-15.45: Afternoon Workshop
Putting right based approaches to dementia to the test in Scotland

15.45-16.00: Concluding comments
Grant Gibson – University of Stirling

Subsequent seminars are to be held in November 2017, January 2018 and March 2018.

To watch the full presentations given at the first workshop of Shifting Paradigms for Dementia, please follow the links below.