Rethinking Autonomy, Risk, and Human Rights: A Relational Approach
- This event has passed.
Thursday, November 7th, 2019
6:30 p.m. for Dinner at 7:00 p.m.
Oceanview Suite 5, Level R, Pan Pacific Vancouver, 999 Canada Place, Vancouver
The Talk
One of the greatest challenges in supporting people living with dementia–regardless of where they live–is enabling autonomy and choice. Our dominant view of dementia stresses incapacity and decline, and our care systems lean heavily on maximising safety, often at the expense of one’s quality of life and decision-making rights.
In his talk, Dr. Allen Power will suggest an alternate view of dementia that focuses on the person’s experience, and uses a transformative approach to care and support that enhances well-being through deep, knowing relationships. Within this approach lies a process for negotiating risk and enabling autonomy in any living environment. He will show how autonomy is eroded by stigma, by medical classification systems, by our BPSD paradigm, and by common practices like all-or-none thinking and surplus safety. He will then provide a pathway for relational autonomy and share stories of how people have successfully negotiated “the dignity of risk.”