Unrest in the Advocacy World

It’s worrisome and somewhat frightening to see and hear so much discontent and heartbreak from so many advocates. It’s even more heartbreaking to know that after 25 or more years and all the advocating and all the promises of change very little in fact has changed for people living with Dementia.

It was deeply troubling yesterday to chat with and hear some very amazing advocates, both on a more grassroots level and on an international level, talking of the fatigue and being so tired and wondering if its time for people with Dementia to just “give up”, and all stop advocating.

It is not at all surprising to hear this, I have often sat and wondered if my advocating was worth it, if it truly was making a difference. 25 or 30 years of advocating and seeing little to no change in how Dementia is treated, how a diagnosis is handed out, how often we are only given a place in the roster and on the stage at conferences to quiet us and say yes we have a person with the lived experience here, it a carrot and nothing more a lot of the time, and it’s shameful.

What’s even more shameful is that most attending are funded through the various organizations they work for on funds raised under or on our backs, because we have allowed our faces and stories to be shared to help the fundraising campaigns, and then we are expected to do our own fundraising and campaigning to attend.

This of course is a bone of contention for many who advocate, why are others paid to stand on the same stage as us and be paid for their contribution to the event, and we are not. In the words of Kate Swaffer ” Corporate Egos”, must go. If you truly want to help change things for those living with Dementia then absolutely the Corporate Ego’s need to disappear and all need to start working together.

But for me personally, the thing that is most exhausting and tiring and very difficult to swallow is that after 25 or more years, there has been no change in the education of Doctors, Nurses, Clinicians, or any of the varied positions that have people in direct contact with people living with Dementia.

This to me is the biggest shortcoming of all, its actually nothing short of tragic, its imperative that this one piece be changed, because if we change it there, then we have the ability to change how the general public perceives Dementia and those of us living with it, and we are living with it, we are not at home, waiting to die, as most seem to think we should be.

So yes we are tired, yes we need to be brought to the table as full and included participants who are as equally valued as others. But for me no matter how tired I am I cannot and must not quit, for doing so would be doing a disservice to all those who worked tirelessly for so long, before me. Out of respect for them, out of respect for all those who are unable to use their voice, I will continue, and hopefully, I will remember to look for the silver linings, and the wins, no matter how small they may be, for if we make a difference in any small way it is still better than making no difference at all.

I will continue to look to my mentors for guidance along this very challenging road of advocacy, I will not be bought or gifted to conform to any one’s particular script, I will speak my truth, I will speak about the human rights violations, I will speak about the need for change.

The world is facing many challenges and changes in 2020, going forward as things change I can only hope that how we diagnose and treat those living with dementia, catches up to how others with any other type of illness are treated. This should promote and help provide quality of life. I say “Care until Cure” is the way forward.