Kate Swaffer documents her experience living with dementia and how using WordPress has helped her capture memories and communicate with others. She did not expect to develop dementia at a young age and has faced challenges with her slipping memory and hallucinations. However, maintaining a WordPress blog has allowed her to recall past experiences through writing, open a dialogue with others, and focus on maintaining her brain plasticity despite her condition. It has brought back dreaming and created an online memory bank for her.

1. My Unseen Disappearing
World: Using WordPress
to Capture Memories.
Kate Swaffer
5th November 2011

2. My life was interesting,
busy and very fulfilling.

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZUyIRq5DAs

4. ‘Live with urgency,
before the emergency’
Robyn Moore, Alzheimer s Australia National Conference, 2011

5. I did not think
dementia would
be at my door at
my age, if at all,
and certainly
not until I was
much older…

6. ...it is imperative we
all understand
the human cost of
dementia.
Baroness Susan Greenfield, June 2011

7. We are mothers, fathers,
lovers, daughters, wives,
husbands, employees,
bloggers…
it is a tragedy so many just see our
deficits.

8. My high functioning mind has
slipped away, sometimes
showing itself like a ghost, trying
to tease me into believing it will
be okay, but now outside of my
reach. My thoughts fly around
inside my head like helium
balloons high inside an
auditorium, also out of my reach.

9. I read then I forget…
I read then I forget…
I read, I take notes, and
then I forget…
I blog, and it is
always there!

10. Hallucinations
sometimes take over
my mind, as
strangers and wild
cats stalk me. The
feeling that these
things are real is
momentary, but
startling none the
less and they
increase the feeling
of madness creeping
into my soul.

11. It can look like a
swan – calm and
serene on the
surface, but legs
paddling a
thousand times
faster below the
surface to make
things ‘look ok’ to
others.
Christine Bryden, Dancing
with dementia, 2005.

12. It is as if I am drowning…

13. Dementia represents the end of
dreaming...
WordPress has brought back the
dreaming.

14. WordPress has also
opened up a vibrant
channel of dialogue and
communication…
and a memory bank

15. Focus
on
your
brain
plasticity

18. My life continues to
be interesting, busy
and very fulfilling.

19. Statistics:
1500 new cases per week in Australia, i.e.
214 per day, no cure, treatment available for
about 60%, which reduces symptoms for 2
years, and 100% of us die.
THANK YOU.