Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People: Stephen Post and Host Dr. Zohara Hieronimus

For caregivers of deeply forgetful people: a book that combines new ethics guidelines with an innovative program on how to communicate and connect with people with Alzheimer's.

How do we approach a "deeply forgetful" loved one so as to notice and affirm their continuing self-identity? For three decades, Stephen G. Post has worked around the world encouraging caregivers to become more aware of―and find renewed hope in―surprising expressions of selfhood despite the challenges of cognitive decline.

In this book, Post offers new perspectives on the worth and dignity of people with Alzheimer's and related disorders despite the negative influence of "hypercognitive" values that place an ethically unacceptable emphasis on human dignity as based on linear rationality and strength of memory. This bias, Post argues, is responsible for the abusive exclusion of this population from our shared humanity. With vignettes and narratives, he argues for a deeper dignity grounded in consciousness, emotional presence, creativity, interdependence, music, and a self that is not "gone" but "differently abled." He affirms vulnerability and interdependence as the core of the human condition and celebrates caregivers as advocates seeking social and economic justice in an unjust American system.  This interview was recorded in 2022.

https://www.stephengpost.com

https://unlimitedloveinstitute.org

Hosted by Dr. Zohara Hieronimus.  Produced by Hieronimus & Co. for 21st Century Radio®.  Edited version provided to Nightlight Radio with permission.