Melvyn agrees with the need to defeat jargon.

Hello, it’s Melvyn here! I was looking through the group papers and me DEEP papers and came across this jargon and they had abbreviations instead of…well…Ever since I’ve been at forget-me-nots – it’s been 8 years, it’s always been the same. Professionals always bloody use it. They’re too tired just to say what it means. They think it is really good to abbreviate. Why? Because they’re supposed to be smarter than us. Why, I don’t know. Ummm. It’s…and the only way you’re going to stop this is…umm…you know..I think it’s about belonging…[indistinct] dementia families surrounded in a big blanket, knowing the things you must say, being accepted, relaxed, warm, supported – yeah, all of those things. But I tell you what…do you know how it feels to be ignored? I do. And until stigma is taken out of dementia it’s going to happen.

Try asking who was at the meeting of the forget-me-nots last time, a month ago. The horrendous questions that he asked the forget-me-nots. You needed a master’s degree to think about the question to begin with, and…ummm…that’s the sort of thing that happens. That is the sort of thing that annoys me… because you can’t be prepared to give an answer and have time to think about it…in the time that he wanted to answer it…because it’s not enough time. Their time is important …uh-huh…so, that is why, you know, abbreviations annoy me. Yes they do! And, like I said, you know how it feels to be ignored. I do. And until stigma’s taken out of dementia it will never happen.

So, that’s one of my answers. My throat sounds a bit hoarse, I’ve got a bad chest again. I shall be seeing the specialist next month sometime…so, I don’t know whether I will (unless I’m dead or something like that). Right, I’m gonna get back to you. Thank you. Bye!