Young Onset Dementia: The Lived Experience

This workshop is designed to assist health professionals to better understand the lived experience of young onset dementia. The presentation will feature case studies and personal accounts from people living with dementia and their care partners discussing their difficult journey to diagnosis and the stigma they face. Their reflections will illustrate how clinicians’ misperceptions of young onset dementia often hinder the process of referrals for neuropsychological testing and referral to a cognitive neurologist or neuro-psychiatrist. Implications for how health care professionals can improve the diagnostic journey of people living with young onset dementia and their care partners will be discussed.

• Describe how the lived experience of young onset dementia differs from that of older onset dementia.
• List three common diagnostic obstacles people with young onset dementia experience.
• Discuss strategies for supporting individuals with dementia and care partners to live more fully.

Jennifer Craft Morgan, PhD