The Voice of Dementia

Alder House Care Home resident, Barbara Hawksworth, lives with dementia, but is very aware of her condition. A former teacher, Barbara is very articulate, aware that she is a changed person, but knows that she is not ill in the accepted physical sense. She wanted to share her perspective on living with dementia, and when she became aware that there was a dementia training course being held for staff at Avery’s Alder House she asked if she could speak to them. She wanted to be the Voice of Dementia.

Without rehearsal or notes, Barbara spoke to the staff for some time, and held the room spellbound to her every word. Some of this moving experience was captured on a mobile phone, but so powerful was her message that she was asked if she might be interviewed and to re-tell her story. She agreed, and this short but inciteful film gives those of us who care or who have cared for loved ones living with dementia an insight into that changed world. This is the Voice of Dementia.