Bristol podcast breaking Dementia stigma

A new podcast presented by people with dementia hopes to encourage people to speak more openly about the condition.

The Bristol Dementia Wellbeing Service (BDWS) has been teaching people podcast researching, interviewing and recording skills.

John Hyde, 65, who has early-onset dementia, said the episode he made with his granddaughter "gave me a purpose".

Producer Trish Caverly said it was "really, really important" for people with dementia to continue learning.

She said the aim of the podcast was to put people living with dementia "in the driving seat rather than being the recipients being interviewed about things".

Mr Hyde said following his diagnosis in 2017 he "fell completely right out of the system".

"I was just left with us and the internet to find out what the disease was," he said.

Mr Hyde did not want other people to have the same "lonely" experience, so he set up a website with all of the information he could find about the condition.

When he heard about BDWS' project he jumped at the chance to create a podcast with his seven-year-old granddaughter Ariana, called How to Speak to Children About Dementia.

He said she already understood that his brain was different to others and she regularly reminds him of his plans for the week.

Mr Hyde, who also writes children's books, said dementia "steals your humanity" but added that making the podcast had kept his brain cells "oiled."

"It is really key for all of us ageing, but particularly for people with dementia, to continue learning, to continue being in a situation where there is new stimulus because that helps to keep our brain as active as it can be," added Ms Caverly.

She said one of the aims of the BDWS, a partnership between Alzheimer's Society and Devon Partnership Trust, was to create opportunities for people affected by dementia to "continue enjoying their everyday existence".

"[Dementia has] given me a different life. But whatever we've got, whatever we haven't got, make a life of it.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-61507779
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