People living with dementia don't need more labels

It’s true, I don’t like to label people living with dementia into stages.

After working the past ten years with people living with dementia, I’ve noticed one very important thing. Everyone’s journey is vastly different. Some symptoms might be the same, but the journey through is individualized.

Being that each person’s journey is individualized, I do not like to put people into a box. Instead I view my clients and others living with dementia for who they are today. Who they are today is a combination of the long life they lived before and where their disease is currently impacting them in their brain.

Why does saying this matter? It’s important to remember there’s still a person inside them. There’s a person who might still be able to needlepoint, but not able to find their way to the bathroom on time. There might be a person who discovers they can freely paint and aphasia has stolen all hopes of their ability to ever have a full conversation again. When we start looking at people for the capabilities they still have, we stop putting them into a box of all the things they can’t do.

This way of seeing the disease process might be difficult for you because at the end of the day we want them to get better and know they won’t. When we look at the stages, we find relief that they fit somewhere. It’s a logical way to pin point someone with an illogical disease. People living with dementia are severely underserved and unrecognized in our world that it often feels they don’t fit anywhere.

We want to know what you think. What would it be like to not put your Loved One in a stage? Does it feel better to you to put them in a stage?