Shelagh says that my sister’s acceptance and disregard for my dementia is very special indeed

Hello this is Shelagh Robinson. We talk alot about how important it is for us to be with people who we can talk openly with about our dementia. But I was thinking after a visit to my sister yeterday how equally important it is to be with people who never talk about dementia. My sister is one of my greatest supporters, she accepts my dementia completely, we go on holiday together and she looks after me. If I’m with her and I have a blip she knows how to help a bit better than anything else. But when I go to visit her, or when we’re together or when we go out to lunch we never mention it and it’s so refreshing. To just be able to talk about family, talk about politics which we disagree on, talk about people we know, talk about cooking, talk about anything. And dementia doesn’t come into it at all. Perhaps more than anybody else, she’s the person with whom I can be most myself, in a way my non-dementia self if that makes sense. I’m very grateful for having her in my life and I really feel for people who don’t have supportive families. I have a lot of supportive family but my sister with her total acceptance and disregard of the dementia is very special indeed.