Building a dementia-friendly community in Jersey

Friday 31 December 2021

Dementia can affect every aspect of a person’s life - in the early stages, a person may forget how to perform simple day to-day tasks, like cooking or cleaning.

Here, Claudine Snape, CEO of Express's chosen charity for 2021, Dementia Jersey, explains that as challenging as it may be to live with dementia, stigma and discrimination make it worse...

Stigma heightens the already significant psychological, social, emotional and financial impacts that dementia has on individuals, their carers, families and communities. It also exposes people with dementia to discrimination within their own communities. It is not uncommon for people with dementia to experience physical and emotional abuse, social isolation or loss of dignity. Supportive environments and societies are crucial in helping overcome stigma and discrimination against people with dementia. 

Here in Jersey, there are approximately 1,600 people with dementia and many more with mild cognitive impairment, so there is an urgent need to improve understanding of dementia by helping everyone feel like they have a part to play.

What is dementia inclusiveness and friendliness? 

Around the world, local communities are coming together to create more inclusive societies and supportive environments. These are fundamental in fighting stigma and discrimination and making sure that people with dementia and their families are meaningfully included in society. 

A dementia friendly society is one in which people with dementia and their carers fully participate in society and have a place in it. They enjoy respect, freedom, dignity, equality, accessibility and quality of life. Dementia Jersey’s vision is to make Jersey a more dementia friendly island where all those affected by dementia are understood, welcomed and supported. 

Combatting stigma 

Communicating accurate information about dementia and creating supportive environments help put the emphasis on the person rather than their disability and impairment and are central to combating stigma. Negative stereotypes can lead someone to unfairly judge another person and falsely attribute negative characteristics to them, resulting in stigma and discrimination. Some examples include coercive or forced treatment or institutionalization, disregard for an individual’s legal capacity to make decisions, and depriving them of their dignity and autonomy. Violations of, or indifference to, the rights of a person can have serious health consequences or worsen poor health including their mental health.

The Dementia Friends initiatives in places like Jersey, the United Kingdom and Japan have reached millions of people who now have a better understanding of dementia. The greater power of dementia friendliness is to inspire communities and large organisations from health to corporations in key sectors like banks, retail and insurance to address the issues of most concern to people with dementia and their carers. There is no one size fits all in developing dementia-friendly initiatives but there is one central rule and that is that people with dementia should be involved from the beginning.

What does being dementia-friendly actually mean?

Being dementia-friendly means seeking to create an inclusive social environment focusing on: 

• individuals being better equipped to communicate with and assist people with dementia, for example police officers, bank clerks or shopkeepers.

• making public spaces, buildings, and facilities more accessible and safer for example creating neutral environments which avoid heavy patterns which could confuse people with dementia or having contrasting coloured handrails and toilet seats;

• considering aural environments, for example, avoiding overly loud tannoy announcements or loud music in public spaces;

• making information accessible, like simple, clear entrance and exit signs or big numbers on keypads;

• enabling people with dementia to participate in relevant decision making for example in health and social care planning;

• creating opportunities for people with dementia to engage in volunteer activities;

• creating positive social attitudes and norms concerning older people in general and people with dementia specifically for example by teaching about dementia in schools.

Creating an inclusive society

There are over 60 Dementia Friends programmes (or national equivalent) launched or in development in more than 50 countries, including Jersey. Under the Global Dementia Friends Network countries were working together to share, support and collaborate for a truly global dementia-friendly movement. Members of the Global Dementia Friends Network have collectively created almost 18 million Dementia Friends worldwide. 

Creating an inclusive society – for all – is about choice. The choice to identify ourselves or not, as a person living with dementia; the choice to engage, or not, in activities. It is only through education that we can create truly inclusive societies, and where living with dementia does not imply segregation, differential treatment or forced choice. We must educate our communities, governments, health and social care practitioners, teachers and students about dementia and what it means to live with dementia, starting at a young age. Universally, every person wants to be accepted and valued for who they are, and it is vital that our politicians keep this in mind as we move towards the elections next year.

To find our more about Dementia Friends sessions offered by Dementia Jersey or to book on behalf of your company please contact info@dementia.je or call 723519. 

This article first appeared in the Dec/Jan edition of Connect magazine, which you can read HERE.