This Dementia Action Week, Australians are being called upon to end the “conspiracy of silence” that leads to discrimination against dementia sufferers.

Associate Prof Michael Woodward told Joe Hildebrand national forecasts predict 900,000 people to be living with dementia over the next few decades.

“Our population is getting older … we’re all living longer.

“People with … the dementia stage of Alzheimer’s experience a great deal of discrimination.

“Their friends drop off, their doctor doesn’t speak to them [they] speak to the person sitting next to them … the health services that are available for the general population are harder to access.

“We need to call this out, just as we called out discrimination in many other health areas over the last few decades.”

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