S6E1 Dementia in the Literature

Season 6 is looking at how Dementia is captured in the media. There are many forms of media, but this episode is focusing specifically on how dementia is portrayed in books. I've been chatting to Prof Cindy Weinstein from CalTech in the US and former carer Jeff Seneviratne from Manchester (UK) about Cindy's book "Finding the Right Words" and their experiences of how dementia is discussed in the media, both in the US and the UK.

Both Cindy (@cindyaweinstein) and Jeff (@jeffseneviratne) are also active on twitter.

After the podcast recording ended, Jeff shared with us a beautiful poem his sister wrote for his late wife Teresa:

 

For Teresa

Because I can't be at her funeral, I make an altar

in my living room: an oak table with indigo shawl,

a lit candle on a birch holder with a heart in its bark.

I gather camellias - the petals fall, the way she fell

quietly away after all the sorrow of the incremental

losing of her, all the living with her present absence.

I send my love out to their broken heartache, a circle

of held hands around the space she has left.

 

Seni Seneviratne