Younger people with dementia: time for fair play

The recent diagnosis of Terry Pratchett with Alzheimer’s disease has once again thrown the spotlight on the fate and lives of younger people with dementia living in the United Kingdom (UK). Far too often the needs and experiences of younger people with dementia, i.e. those aged under the age of 65 years, are overlooked even though the group total around 15 000 people in the UK (Alzheimer’s Society, 2007), and are in need of specialist service provision, as recommended by current National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines, Dementia: Supporting People With Dementia and Their Carers in Health and Social Care(NICE, 2006). This specialist service provision is all the more pressing as younger people with dementia are likely to be living through discrete and enduring mid-life challenges, such as mortgage repayments, meeting children’s university and accommodation fees, caring for parents and career pressures; such pressures ripple through the entire family unit and disruption is felt by all.