On 27 January, the EASPD (European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities) "Knowledge Café" addressed the topic of the social Impact of Alzheimer’s dementia. The webinar was opened by Maya Doneva (the Secretary General of EASPD) and followed by a presentation by the Coordinator of the Co-Care project.
Jean Georges, Executive Director of Alzheimer Europe, then gave a presentation about Alzheimer Europe and its campaign to make dementia an EU policy priority in which he described various policy challenges, Alzheimer Europe’s various campaigns to bring about change, key reports produced by Alzheimer Europe on policy and ethical issues, and the focus of EU presidencies in relation to dementia as well as EU Joint Action programmes and funding for dementia research.
This was followed by a speech by Chris Roberts, Chair of the European Working Group of People with Dementia, who talked about his personal experience of dementia and his expectations regarding dementia-inclusive services.
Finally, Dianne Gove, Director for Projects of Alzheimer Europe, gave a presentation about dementia as a disability, focusing on the ethical challenges linked to supporting people with dementia, particularly with regard to personal identity and hidden disability. Over 30 people attended the virtual Knowledge Café and there was an interesting dialogue between the participants and presenters at the end about a range of related issues such as legal capacity, guardianship measures, institutional care and inequity.
