Blogging with dementia : An inspiration for us all
Kate Swaffer (@kateswaffer), an Australian nurse diagnosed with younger onset dementia, calls her daily blog a “memory bank.”
I ran across Swaffer’s story in a post from Australian blogger, Clare Conroy (@webbyclare).
Kate’s blog started off being a casual way of documenting her daily activities and thoughts. Soon she realized that it was also becoming her “memory bank” to keep tabs on her life, her thoughts, and her philosophies, so that later on, she could remember what she was thinking or doing. Her friends and family could also read her posts so that even if she couldn’t remember to tell them, they could still find out what she’d been doing and be involved in her life. As her dementia progresses and she experiences greater physical isolation, the blog has become an increasingly important way of staying connected with herself and the rest of the world.
Swaffer also wishes to give people with dementia a voice.
There is an overload of carers out there blogging about how tough it is caring for a loved one with dementia, so it’s important that we find ways to be heard too. I have lots of people with dementia following it now. And they say ‘thank you so much, that’s exactly how I feel.’
Her blog has become an academic resource at a number of universities, including Edinburgh University and Tasmania University, studying dementia care.
As is the case with many bloggers, Swaffer’s blog has led to what she calls “an accidental career” as a speaker and writer.
Following her keynote speech at WordCamp Gold Coast in 2011, she was then invited to New Zealand to deliver the keynote at an Alzheimer’s Conference, and spent two weeks doing speaking engagements all around New Zealand. She’s also used her blog posts as the basis for a forthcoming book about living with younger onset dementia
My Dad is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. In my top dresser drawer I keep his partially written story of his life from youth through being a young adult. I believe he was hand writing the story as a gift for his children and grandchildren when dementia set in.
We’ll key up the portion of the story he completed. And though I would have loved to have his story on dementia, it was not in the cards. The only time I used the word Alzheimer’s with him, he said the doctor gave him some things to read and that he read it once and never again.
There are some many people to be reached via blogging by people willing to share their first hand experiences. Lawyers are one such group with a lot to share.
Take a few minutes to read Conroy’s post on Kate Swaffer’s story of blogging with dementia. I hope you’ll find it inspirational.
Perhaps inspirational enough for you, as a lawyer, to begin blogging in an effort to share your experience and insight with the people you serve.