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Hopeless. Helpless. Incapacitated...or Inspired? Challenging the stigma of living with dementia.
The stigma attached to dementia is profound and pervasive. The public generally perceives people with dementia as hopeless, helpless, and incapacitated. This stigma affects both people living with dementia and their support networks including family, friends and medical professionals. These stereotypes blossom into prejudices that effectively strip away independence. Prejudices develop into institutionalized discrimination which, for persons with dementia, often means removing them from society.
From the moment of diagnosis, people living with dementia experience stigma and discrimination. Their doctors can offer them little hope. Most healthcare professionals send them home to get their end-of-life affairs in order. Doctors may prescribe pharmaceuticals to, perhaps, slow the progression of some symptoms for some amount of time. And that’s it. People go home, digest the news, eventually tell their friends and loved ones. Perhaps inform their employer. They investigate, they research. Maybe they watch movies. The underlying message is always the same. You’re going to die from this. You can’t do anything about it. It’s going to be really sad. We’re really sorry.
My grandmother died from dementia when I was in my twenties. I remember being in the facility…
