“I think accurate and sensitively handled, supportive diagnosis is important.”

– Keith Oliver

“First of all I would say that reports into accurate, sensitive, well-supported diagnosis is important, because so many younger people get wrongly diagnosed, and the diagnosis is quite painful to them. So I think accurate and sensitively handled, supportive diagnosis is important.

I think information is important around what dementia presents to them at the time, and not too far forward. I think that can be quite scary if you give people too much about too far ahead. So I think to give people good information that’s relevant to their present situation is really helpful.

I think meeting other people is important, and the Dementia Diaries has a role there, but also face-to-face meeting, because you tend to think when you’re diagnosed and when you’re going through that period of your life with young onset dementia, you’re the only one. And of course there are lots of people when you discover who do have young onset dementia, and we’re quite different in our needs to older people, I would suggest.

And also I’d like others to know that having young onset dementia is more than just a memory difficulty. And that dementia doesn’t just affect the elderly, it does affect people in their 60s, their 50s, and in some cases their 40s and even younger than that.”