November 11, 2016

Dementia advocate Kate Swaffer announced as SA Australian of the Year

Author, activist, and UOW PhD student honoured for her work with people with dementia

University of Wollongong PhD student Kate Swaffer (pictured) was this week named Australian of the Year for South Australia in recognition of her work advocating on behalf of people with dementia.

Ms Swaffer, who also graduated from UOW in 2014 with a Masters of Science in Dementia Care and is now undertaking a PhD, was diagnosed with dementia eight years ago, at the age of 49, an experience she describes as “a hell of a roller coaster ride”.

The chairwoman and co-founder of Dementia Alliance International, Ms Swaffer now travels the world campaigning for improved services and outcomes for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country who have dementia, a number that si expected to rise as Australia’s population ages.

She was “humbled” to be recognised in SA’s Australian of the Year and is now a finalist in the national awards to be announced on Australia Day next year. She said the victory was a win for people with dementia.

“I advocate in Australia, locally and globally to try and change the post-diagnostic experience to where people can learn to live with dementia, not only to die from it,” she told the ABC.

Ms Swaffer wrote a moving, evocative piece for UOW’s The Stand earlier this year, which captured the challenges and triumphs of living with younger onset dementia.

“Thanks to dementia, my life has changed in ways that are sometimes challenging to understand and difficult to live with, and yet I prefer to work hard to use these things to strengthen my resilience to drive me to achieve more of my goals, not less,” she wrote.

Since being diagnosed with dementia, Ms Swaffer has published her first book, What The Hell Happened To My Brain?: Living Beyond Dementia, completed two undergraduate degrees in psychology and creative writing in her hometown of Adelaide, and begun her PhD at UOW, which focuses on understanding the lived experience of dementia and improving the lives of those people living with it.

Through her popular blog, Creating Life With Words, Ms Swaffer has aimed to create a meaningful dialogue about living with dementia and educate her audience about the issues that impact people with the disease and their loved ones.

She is the only person with dementia to ever have delivered a keynote speech at a UN World Health Organisation event and is the only Australian to be a full member of the World Dementia Council. She also received the UOW Alumni Award for Social Impact in 2016.