Mina Drever

I guess I have always had an obsession with how we communicate. How we use language in all of our interactions reveals who we are.

'My language is the sum total of me' said the American philosopher C.S. Pierce in 1869.

As a child growing up in Gioia del Colle (in Puglia, Southern Italy) in the 1950s/60s, I was enthralled by how my elderly neighbours weaved their language to tell me stories about their lives. I learned the art of conversations from them.

I honed this skill when I became a teacher of languages, encouraging my students to be creative with new words and phrases they learned in our classrooms. Now I enjoy talking with elderly people who live in a residential care home in Great Dunmow, Essex (England), where I live now.

Some of these residents live with Alzheimer’s or similar diseases. Through our conversations I discover gems of personalities that enrich our world. I also realise that, far from being ‘mad’ (they are more often than not diagnosed with ‘dementia’ which means madness), they display some difficulties with mental co-ordination. My linguistic skills enable me to adjust the use of my language so that we can have sustained and meaningful conversations.

I have written some of these conversations in my book 'Come and talk with me'. I have done this to give voice to people who cannot speak for themselves. I want readers to appreciate that inside the damaged brain there is a person to be discovered through conversation.

My other book – 'Reconceptualising dementia. Amelesia not dementia. Unmindfulness not madness. A manifesto' – is a bold move towards altering our perception of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and similar conditions. I investigate social beliefs and medical terminology of brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s to make a compelling argument that change can only come about if we alter the way that we use language.

We can learn. I have written a training programme for students of dementia. This programme is available on my website: www.amelesia.com