November 9, 2015, by Sunita Tailor

Dementia Day-to-Day

This blog post was written by Dr Kevin Harvey who tells us about the launch of his new initiative, Dementia Day-to-Day, which is a new blogging platform run jointly with the Institute of Mental Health.

For a while now, I’ve been working on helping to put together a new blogging platform called Dementia Day-to-Day, which will be launching on Wednesday 18th December 2015 (see idea.nottingham.ac.uk/blogs/about-blogs for more detail). I’d been interested in the interface between dementia and language and literature for some time – I’m convinced that literary and linguistic insights can help illuminate dementia as a social and cultural phenomenon, challenging some of the prevailing orthodoxies that surround the illness – and so the prospect of making publically available a diverse series of blogs, including diaries, reflective pieces and podcasts, that explore dementia seemed like a fascinating way of further exploring the subject and creating an accessible resource for a wide audience.

One of the many exciting (if I say so myself) aspects of Dementia Day-to-Day is that, as an information source, it is quite different from other dementia resources. For a start it is eclectic – jointly run by the Institute of Mental Health and the School of English, a partnership which draws attention to interdisciplinarity, to crossing boundaries. It is also democratic, allowing anyone to contribute.

One of the most dominant ways of thinking about dementia is from a clinical, scientific medical vantage point, a perspective that focuses on identifying the causes of and developing treatments for dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease. It is this type of perspective that often inspires and dominates much media coverage of dementia related issues.

There are, however, many other vantage points from which to explore dementia and wellbeing, and this is what Dementia Day-to-Day seeks to do. Over the last six months or so, we’ve aimed to assemble a panel of authors from all walks of life, each with their own experience of, and interest in, dementia to explore the subject of ageing and wellbeing from as many angles as possible. Alongside more medical perspectives, you’ll find personal, social and cultural takes on dementia – a variety of commentaries designed to be informative, engaging and (always) accessible.

The blogs are updated regularly and are often topical, responding to events in the news, developments in research, and so on. But they are not exclusively so. You’ll also find accounts by people with dementia, their carers, friends and family members – all of whom describe their day-to-day experiences and stories.

Dementia Day-to-Day is an ever-expanding resource. Accordingly we welcome blogs from new authors (regardless of whether you are an expert on the subject or not). If you would like to contribute, please do contact us by emailing kevin.harvey@nottingham.ac.uk.

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