I'm living with dementia. Alongside my dementia, I lead a fulfilling life and actively contribute to my community. I'm not alone in this; countless others diagnosed with dementia live meaningful and active lives. Some do that for many years after diagnosis. We may need help and support, and we will need to adapt our lives. My own life is enriched by friends who also live with dementia. We laugh, we cry, we care for each other. We have a voice, and we need that voice to be heard.

I deeply appreciate everyone who supports us to live well with dementia - until we die. Every day, some of us work hard to dispel the unnecessary stigmas and fears about dementia. The stigmas and the negatives themselves cause damage and suffering. 

Many people work alongside us. There are alternative approaches and perceptions which support everyone living around dementia, in positive, hopeful and respectful ways. There’s more than one way to respond to this condition. And there are ways to raise funds without increasing public misunderstandings, and distressing many of us who experience our lives with dementia in a very different way. 

Individuals and organisations are working to establish a wider range of perspectives on dementia. We believe that diagnosis is not a death, it is change. Everyone's life changes them. None of us is the same person we were as children, or teenagers. Our relationships change. People die. But the stigmas and fears about dementia can limit lives, and damage lives. The stigmas and fears also damage and limit the lives of the people supporting and caring for us. They damage everyone.

Our efforts are undermined by fund-raising advertisements from organisations like the Alzheimer's Society. These campaigns frequently show people living with dementia as helpless victims. They perpetuate harmful stereotypes which can undo years of progress in changing people's perceptions. 

We have a disability, and a progressive disease. Each of us is an individual, someone with our own different experiences, thoughts and feelings. We might communicate in different ways, but it’s still possible to listen in a new way, and to understand. That includes the times when we lose some of our earlier skills and memories. 

The World Health Organisation reports that around 50 million people worldwide have dementia, and nearly 10 million new cases occur every year. As a society we can work towards a cure, but we can also listen and change ourselves and our understandings. That can only be good - for everyone. 

We urge the Alzheimer's Society and similar organisations to rethink their advertising strategies. Instead of spreading negative images that only serve to stigmatise those living with dementia further and increase the fears, we call on them to promote understanding, acceptance and respect for everyone affected by this condition. 

Join us in putting foward a different approach to dementia. Please sign this petition today!