Dementia can affect your day-to-day life in a variety of ways. It is important to continue doing the things that are important to you. There are steps you can take to keep yourself safe at home.
Creating a dementia friendly home
Whether you have lived in your home for a long time, or have newly moved in, the way your home is laid out can either support you to adapt and live well with your diagnosis or it can be a barrier to this. Understanding how your home can be more dementia friendly can have a big impact on quality of life.
Assistive technology can support you to live well and safe at home.
The Alzheimer’s Society booklet Making your home dementia friendly (pdf) describes some of the ways to create a home environment that supports you. It is divided into sections covering different aspects of living at home. It lists some practical, quick and easy things you can do to make your home more dementia friendly.
Age Scotland’s information guide Early Stage Dementia: A carers guide to making a dementia friendly home (pdf) looks at the changes your carer could make to help you remain independent, safe and comfortable at home.
The University of Stirling’s app Iridis helps you assess your home environment. It gives hints and tips on how your home could be made more dementia friendly.
For those with a visual impairment, the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) is the world leader on the design of services and environments for people with dementia. Their website includes a useful section on good practice in design for dementia and sight loss. Including guidelines on what works well for visually impaired people with dementia in terms of the design of their homes and the things in them.
Dementia Dog Project
The Dementia Dog Project brings dogs back into the lives of people with dementia. It aims to prove that dogs can help people with dementia maintain their daily routines.
The project is jointly run by Alzheimer Scotland and Dogs for Good.
More information, contact details, and stories of how people with dementia have had their lives enhanced by dogs is available on the Dementia Dog Project website.
Care and Repair Service
Aberdeenshire Care and Repair provides a free service offering information, advice and help with repairs, maintenance and adaptations to Aberdeenshire owner occupiers and private tenants who are over 60 or have a disability.
