The Life Changes Trust is today publishing a landmark book, ‘Loud and Clear’, which tells the story of how people living with dementia in Scotland have become activists and influencers in their own right over the last twenty years. Image It’s the first book of its kind, charting the history and telling the story of how people with dementia in Scotland confronted the status quo. The story is told largely through the eyes of dementia activists themselves, and reflects their successes and struggles to achieve ground-breaking change. For many years, people with dementia were largely undiagnosed, unseen, unvalued and ignored. With no way to have their voices heard, they were never consulted on policies that affected their daily lives, and were turned away from conferences – on dementia. Over the last twenty years, this has started to shift, thanks to a group of people in Scotland living with dementia, speaking up and becoming activists themselves. After decades of silencing and discrimination, people with dementia have been joining forces, taking action and campaigning for social change. Their work has changed policy in Scotland and influenced others across the world. This book tells their story. Our research centre, ECRED, is a group of dementia researchers, people with dementia, dementia practitioners and representatives from a range of dementia organisations, some of which feature in this book: "We are proud to work alongside the inspiring dementia activists featured in Loud and Clear. Before this book, the stories we heard about dementia activism in Scotland were passed on through word of mouth and were at risk of being forgotten. Now that these stories have been captured and recorded, we can share them widely. This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in human rights activism and the history behind a movement which is fighting for equality." Read the book here Publication date 24 Jun, 2020
