Things began to change ion the first half of 2018

and then in July I started to Leave the Dark Hole behind

Back to Woodbrooke for the Young Dementia UK Conference

In  october I was on an interview panel for a new part time and voluntary vacancies from Young Dementia UK in Sheffield

which has led to the setting up of a new Young Onset Dementia Support Group in Sheffield.

In October I wrote a letter for a\ website in Italy Una lettera a Eloisa Stella e al popolo italiano

and spent A Day at the Royal College of Psychiatrists

followed by a day in London for a Forum for the Long Term NHS Plan

My participation in research continued with “The Twitter Use of People Living with Dementia” Study – Part 2, 

Part 6 -The RADAR Alzheimer’s Research Study. 

and a Health-Related Internet Use by Individuals with Young Onset Dementia – A Qualitative Study

At the end of November I was at the UK Dementia Congress 2018

followed by the Trent Dementia – Life with Dementia Conference

and the Modelling Dementia Conference

Also in December my local Memory Cafe announced New Funding and Increased Services at the Parson Cross Forum in Sheffield

I also spent a day at the first DfID/BOND Partnership Forum in London, following being a delegate at the Global Disability Summit in July 2018 and I then went to Brussels for 4 days to attend a European Commission Conference on Cross Border Vulnerable Adults, both of which I have still to write articles on.

One of the new challenges I increasingly faced was issues with noise and you can read about it here

All in all, a busy 3 months and over Christmas the spectre of fatigue and tiredness was becoming a new challenge in 2019.

Whilst I try to show that there is a life to live after after a younger/earlier diagnosis, to offset the stigma of the media perceptions of Dementia, it is in no way intended to belittle the experiences of professionals or care partners who generally have a negative experience of Dementia in the end stage or Palliative stage as I refer to it.

It is because of my experiences of that stigma from the point of my diagnosis that I write these articles to hopefully enable some who follow, receiving their diagnosis.