According to Harper, we live in a "dementia-phobic culture." We describe the disease as “a thief, kidnapper, slow-motion murderer [that] robs, steals and erases one’s memory, mind, personality.” Harper is interested in how that kind of talk shapes the way the disease is experienced — and not just by those directly afflicted. As she puts it, everyone "in the at-risk population — that is, all of us who plan to grow old” are subject to these fears. Harper joins us this Friday at noon to discuss how dementia can be reframed as a window onto an essential aspect of what it means to be alive.
Lynn Casteel Harper's book is On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia, and What It Means to Disappear [BookShop|IndieBound|Amazon}