Hi Maureen, that is a very good point! It is hard to anticipate how we will respond, but doing the play made us realise that we have choices in how we behave, but anticipating or changing our usual behaviour is not easy to do in practice. You are right, people’s reactions will be based on many things, and partly will be to do with their understanding of dementia at the time. Some people may have ‘experience’ of dementia before it affects them personally. We were heartened (and encouraged) by the understanding and insight by some of the sixth-form college students who had personal experience via an older family member, one was a carer– they may be better equipped than people with less direct experience in the future. We’re also doing our best to help more people understand dementia, such as through our Living with Dementia Toolkit. The ‘Adjusting to a diagnosis’ page offers an insight into having those initial conversations https://livingwithdementiatoolkit.org.uk/stay-positive/adjusting-to-a-d….
Claire Pentecost
says