I CAN! I WILL! Stand Up and Speak Out about Dementia

Laura Bramly posted a great article on Alzheimer’s Reading Room entitled I CAN! I WILL!

Read it by clicking on the title to go to Alzheimer’s Reading Room to read it or click on Archive where I have posted it.

This effort is that of a group loosely called the “Survivors.” They are a group that has been insisting for years that there is life after a diagnosis of Dementia. Richard Taylor, a prominent member of this group, made a stimulating call for action at the Annual Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) conference in Toronto, Canada, this past March. This call to action resulted in the formation of
I CAN! I WILL!

This WebSite is a global interactive tool, where someone living in one country—with the same symptoms and issues, and dealing with the same stigma—would read the thoughts of someone in another country, take their words to heart and incorporate them into their own lives. Richard had code named the project Stand Up, Speak Out. Produced live with the help and the funding of ADI it was put to sea, the sea of the WorldWideWeb, but a few days ago, under a different name I CAN! I WILL!

Its purpose is to publicize, disseminate information and carry on discussion about the needs of people with DM and those affected by it. There is so much more to DM needing attention beyond the singular goals too often promulgated that there is nothing that can be done for a person with AD than find a cure of the disease. As salutary as this effort is, there is so much more that needs to be done. The purpose of the WebSite I CAN! I WILL! is to attend to that need being largely overlooked.

This is an effort that arises from active sensitivity and empathy to help those in need, it is also a more direct effort to relieve the Cost of Care for all of those affected as well as the rest of the Country which will be economically bankrupted if the epidemic proportion of DM is let to develop.   

Richard calls the disease he has now and has had more than ten years “Early Onset dementia (probably of the Alzheimer’s type).” I have Dementia diagnosed as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

I like to call mine (DM). Although diagnosed as a-Typical AD because it varies so much from the norm of what people consider AD to be. My memory still functions adequately albeit with some limitations that are growing. My cognition remains pretty good as does my ability to read, write and analyze. Too many of my other systems are broken down badly such as Executive Function, Multi-Tasking, and Visual Perceptive Ability.

I am sick and tired of being told “You can’t have it, you are so normal!” This comes from the erroneous perception of what AD is in fact. This in turns leads to the misperception that you have to be relatively incompetent, low on the scale of normal functioning, to have it. Because of the many different kinds of AD along with the different kinds of DM, there are as people who have either one as kinds of AD and/or DM. The misunderstanding remains alive and well.

Richard Taylor in his book Alzheimer’s from the Inside Out quips if he had a dollar for everyone who said, “You can’t have it…..” he would be a very rich man.

This effort and this WebSite fill a void in the public life of AD and DM. The primary effort if not the singular effort is to raise money to finance research to find a cure. As much as this is needed, this remains a long term need. Although short term in objective, it will be long term in accomplishment. There are too many variations of this disease producing similar progressive symptoms that it is unlikely research will produce but one cause. The myriad possibilities each of which needs complete investigation stymy quick success.

It is for this reason we need to match the effort to Find the Cure with an equally strong effort to Find Economy in Care. If we do not we as a united country will not be around to continue funding research. This is a given look at the facts!