Today’s guest is Australian Kate Swaffer, a humanitarian and activist for disability rights in dementia and aged care. She is the Chair, CEO and co-founder of Dementia Alliance International, a global advocacy and support group for people living with dementia. Kate is also living with younger onset dementia, diagnosed in 2008 at age 49. She has won many awards for her work, including the 2018 Australian 100 Women of Influence Global Leader, and the 2017 South Australia Australian of The Year. Kate is an elected board member of Alzheimer’s Disease International, and a current PhD candidate at the University of South Australia. Her first dementia book, What the Hell Happened to My Brain? Living Beyond Dementia, and her second book, Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, co-authored with Associate Professor Lee-Fay Low, were released in 2016. She has also written and published a book of poetry, Love Life Loss - A Roller Coaster of Poetry Volume 2: Days with Dementia. Since 2010, Kate has given many keynote presentations on dementia, human rights, disAbility, discrimination, stigma, the lived experience of dementia, dementia-enabling design principles, language, Prescribed Disengagement®, Information Technology for people with dementia, dementia policy, and loss and grief. In this episode we discuss how she managed to complete two master’s degrees and part of a PhD post diagnosis, her life as an “accidental activist,” and how to break down the wall of silence that surrounds a dementia diagnosis. Read Kate’s AlzAuthors Post: https://alzauthors.com/2016/07/19/meet-kate-swaffer-author-of-what-the-hell-happened-to-my-brain/  Start reading What the Hell Happened to My Brain? now! https://amzn.to/3xuIqZG Start reading Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or another dementia now! https://amzn.to/2VtmQ9K Note: We are an Amazon Associate and may receive a small commission from book sales.  Connect with Kate Swaffer Website: https://kateswaffer.com/ Dementia Alliance: https://www.dementiaallianceinternational.org/ Blog: https://kateswaffer.com/daily-blog/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kate.swaffer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kateswaffer/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KateSwaffer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-swaffer-502a5b13/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZZQitZb0pttEpGxNLwldjg Each season our podcast brings you six of our authors sharing their dementia journeys. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends in need of knowledge, comfort and support on their own dementia journeys  AlzAuthors is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, and marketing expenses to promote our authors, expand our content, improve our reach, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ . Thank you for listening.