Innovative projects - civil rights of people with dementia
Innovations in Dementia believes passionately that people with dementia have the same rights as everyone else.
We also believe that many people with dementia will have additional legal rights as disabled people under the Disability Discrimination Act.
This Act makes it unlawful for service providers to unreasonably discriminate against disabled people. Since the Act was introduced, things have improved for many people with disabilities. Services that discriminate unfairly against disabled people face the wrath not only of the law, but of new generations of disabled people prepared, encouraged and empowered to fight for their rights.
We would like to see people with dementia among them.
However, we know that the rights of people with dementia can seem to slowly disappear after the diagnosis. This can happen in small ways. For example people in authority including health and social care professionals may only consult a carer and may make assumptions about what people with dementia want.
We want to challenge this.
How do people with dementia see themselves?
The images of people with dementia in our culture are often very negative. The media often portray dementia as a ‘tragedy’ and a recent article in the Observer referred to it as ‘the living death’.
Even charities sometimes paint a very pessimistic view of dementia. A major charity has described dementia as ‘robbing people of their soul’.
There is no doubt that dementia has a profound effect,
but we believe that these negative images can be very damaging.
Innovations in Dementia CIC, PO Box 616, Exeter, EX1 9JB
Registered as a community interest company No. 06046815.
© Innovations in dementia CIC 2008