Transcript
[Beginning of recorded material]
Colin: My name is Colin, and I am a retired interior decorator, and I have five grandchildren and three children. About 18 months ago I was diagnosed with dementia, and it was quite a shock to my family, and we decided that we should talk about it.
[visual: Colin and Sue walk down a street]
Colin: I try to keep busy but I pace myself with regular exercises, and I go to an exercise class twice a week. I also go to a Yiddish class. I make a point of walking to my Yiddish class once a week. I have always spoken Yiddish. It is quite difficult to find people that converse in it nowadays. Therefore, I was losing a lot of words to be able to converse, and then I found out about this class, and it's helped me remember the language.
[visual: Colin plays Rummy]
Colin: Playing games like Backgammon or Rummy also stimulates the brain. My wife and I like going to concerts. It's very soothing to hear the music. Sue has made a weekly calendar, and it tells me where we are going, so that I can pace myself and know exactly what to do.
Once the doctors tell you what you have, you've got to learn about it, and you learn by talking. I certainly didn't know about it until I was told that I had it, and that's when I started to read about it and learn. I feel that information is very important, to ask people who have it, and read about it, and talk about it.
[Title card: With special thanks to Colin and Sue.]
[Dementia Australia logo]
[Title card: National Dementia Hotline 1800 100 500. For language assistance call 131 450]
[Title card: Visit dementia.org.au]
[END of recorded material]
