Inside the Big Issue: I am Still Me

When you think of dementia, what comes to mind? This week’s Big Issue magazine first-of-its-kind special edition might just challenge those perceptions.

Big Issue has teamed up with Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK as well as community organisations like DEEP, a network of more than 100 peer groups, and Dementia Rebels, a group of activists raising awareness of young-onset dementia, to put together a magazine with people living with dementia.

The words on this week’s cover – I am Still Me – come from Dory in North Wales.

She wanted to challenge the sense that life is over after a dementia diagnosis: “You are not handed any hope, you become invisible.” However, she adds, “I am Still Me – I may be a different me, but I’m not completely different.”

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In the UK there are an estimated 982,000 people living with dementia. By 2040, the number is expected to reach 1.4 million. But it often seems that once a person is diagnosed, their voice is no longer listened to.

As World Alzheimer’s Month begins in September, we wanted this edition to give a platform to those impacted by the disease, both people living with it and their carers. There is a frequently hard reality of how the disease develops, but so much more too. Music and art and new experiences to reaffirm connections old and new. Buy an issue this week to get beyond the diagnosis.

What else is in this week’s Big Issue?

‘Relax, we don’t bite!’: How to behave around somebody with a dementia diagnosis

People with dementia share tips on how they wished to be treated: “We are not just living with dementia; we are living life,” they told us.

“We are parents, grandparents, friends, volunteers, artists, campaigners and community members.”

‘My worst moment was telling my dad my mum died. I had to tell him again and again’

David Baddiel’s father Colin had a rare dementia called Pick’s disease, which causes the frontal lobes of the brain to slowly shrink, leading to behavioural and personality changes. Big Issue paired the comedian with Chris Snell, a 34-yearold who was 19 when his father was diagnosed with dementia. Snell became his father’s primary carer. Baddiel and Snell spoke about the challenges of caring for people with dementia, the funny moments they had with their dads, and their hopes for change.

Can Burnham hit his Christmas rough sleeping target?

Andy Burnham’s announcement that everyone sleeping rough in England will be offered a route off the streets by Christmas is a bold statement of intent. Now the big question is can he really deliver it? We asked Big Issue vendors who are either sleeping rough or have done so in the past what they think it will take for Burnham to succeed.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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