Creating History for People with Dementia

A significant milestone in the history for people with dementia

Today is a significant milestone for Dementia Alliance International (DAI) and for people with dementia, having launched a landmark guide “The Human Rights of People Living with Dementia: from Rhetoric to Reality”, as a direct result of DAI’s advocacy and a rights-based approach. Including access to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which has also just been adopted by Alzheimer’s Disease International.

“This is a watershed moment for people with dementia across the world”

There are currently more than 47 million people with dementia globally and one new diagnosis every 3.2 seconds. There are 850,000 people in the UK who have a form of dementia, more than 5 million in America, and more than 353,800 Australians with dementia in Australia. If dementia were a country, it would be the 18th largest economy.

About the Dementia Alliance International

Dementia Alliance International (DAI) is an advocacy group, the peak body and global voice of people with dementia. Membership of DAI is exclusive to people with a medically confirmed diagnosis of dementia; to join our exclusive club or to join a support group, visit us here www.joindai.org.

DAI’s mission includes Human Rights based approaches that are applied to the pre and post-diagnostic experiences of people with a dementia, in every way. We advocate for a more ethical pathway of support that includes our human right to full rehabilitation and full inclusion in civil society; Taking the motto “nothing about us, without us.”

The human rights of people with dementia lie at the heart of their work. Access to the UN Disability Convention was one of the demands made by DAI’s Chair, Kate Swaffer at the World Health Organisation’s First Ministerial Conference on Dementia held in Geneva in March 2015. Since then, they have done everything they can to make a reality of that demand.

DAI’s three key demands that can be found in “The Human Rights of People Living with Dementia: from Rhetoric to Reality” (launched today)

• We have human right to a more ethical pathway of care, including our pre and post diagnostic care, including rehabilitation.
• Being treated with the same human rights as everyone else, under the Disability Discrimination Acts and UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities .
• That research focuses on care as much as a cure.

“What matters to us now is that people living with dementia should be empowered to use their undisputed right of access to this and to other relevant UN Human Rights Conventions, including a future Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.” Professor Peter Mittler