Announcing the 2018 DAI Board & the AGM Chairs Report

1. Kate Swaffer, Chair & CEO
2. David Paulson, Vice Chair
3. John Sandblom, Treasurer
4. Eileen Taylor, Secretary
5. Maria Turner
6. Phyllis Fehr
7. Jerry Wylie
8. Bill Turner
9. Agnes Houston
10. James McKillop
11. Alister Robertson
12. Carole Mulliken

Volunteers: Sarah Yeates and Karen Bland (and soon, hopefully Leah Bisani!)

We would also like to thank Ian Gladstone and Valerie Schache (Val has been a co-opted board member this year), the two DAI members who were not elected as 2018 Board members, but who we hope will become or continue as active members in leadership roles, including as 'shadow' board members'. We thank them sincerely for nominating for the 2018 Board.

For those who could not attend the meeting, you can read the Chair's Report here:

Chair’s Report, AGM, November 14/15, 2017

Welcome to everyone, and my sincere thanks to members of the board for 2017 for their hard work and commitment to DAI. Special thanks also to outgoing 2017 board members, Brian Le Blanc and Mick Carmody who stepped down earlier in the year for personal and health reasons and to the board members who are continuing on.

As we come to the end of another very busy year of advocacy and activism by DAI members, and others, either collectively or individually, I would like to thank everyone for their energy and efforts for all people with dementia. Today we hold our annual Annual General Meeting, and this year we have six nominations for four vacancies. This is such progress from our small start by 8 people diagnosed with dementia wanting to advocate as a global team. I’m proud of what we have achieved, our past and current Board members and Action group members, and am looking forward to the 2018 team being voted in.

Membership currently remains exclusively for people with a medically confirmed diagnosis of any type of a dementia from all around the world, and we continue to seek to represent, support, empower and educate others living with the disease, and the wider dementia community, and are an organization that strives to provide a unified voice of strength, advocacy and support with a dream for individual autonomy and improved quality of life for people with dementia and our families supporting us.

On behalf of us all, my very special thanks must go to our very hard working and loyal DAI volunteers. We could not have done it without them, and are indebted to tem for this support. Sarah Yeates continues to support DAI by attending the board meetings and AGM and providing the Minutes, as well as other business and operational advice, and is also helping us with the Strategic Plan. Thanks also to Karen Bland for her volunteer work and support with the support groups.

The Richard Taylor Memorial Advocates Award
On World Alzheimer's Day, September 21, we announced the winner of the 2017 Richard Taylor Memorial Advocates Award. Our long time member and a dear friend to so many around the world Susan Suchan was the recipient this year, and her incredible passion and drive to be a voice for those losing theirs, especially with PPA has been extraordinary, and has continued in spite of her rent diagnosis of cancer. DAI also sends Susan and her family our love at this difficult time.

World Alzheimer's Month 2017
This year, we were less frenetic than in 2016 when we posted a daily blog, but importantly, we held our first public Seminar, also held as an online Webinar, co-hosted with the Dementia Advocacy Advisory Team in Brisbane, and supported by BlueCare, a service provider in Queensland. It was very successful, and included a powerful presentation from the two daughters of a mother with YOD now in aged care. This will be available on YouTube very soon.

Conferences and other events
DAI members were well represented in Kyoto at the ADI conference in April, and again at the ADI Regional meeting held in conjunction with Alzheimer’s Indonesia. We hope to have strong representation at the ADI conference in Chicago next year, and again will support members who have never attended to submit abstracts.

I have represented DAI in my role previously titled the SE Asia Regional ADI Ambassador at a number of meetings in Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia, supporting their local Alzheimer's offices to empower people with dementia to self-advocate. After a number of years of supporting NZ, we are thrilled they have recently set up their own Dementia Advisory Group of people with dementia; Taiwan is close to doing the same. In Taiwan, I also met with governments, the department of criminal justice on rights of people with dementia and the President of the Control Yuan, and am working closely with them on their national dementia strategy, as well as speaking at many public meetings. Taiwan and Indonesia this year, have had people with dementia speaking publicly for the first time.

Human Rights Update
Our work on claiming the Human Rights for all people with dementia means we are legally entitled to be included, and not just consulted, or represented by others. We are also entitled to the appropriate disability support that any other persons or groups of disabled people are afforded. DAI works as an independent self-advocacy organization of people with dementia which is in a strategic partnership with Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), and where collaboration is also possible with all national Alzheimer’s organisations and national or local Dementia Working Groups. We work actively with the Dementia Working/Advisory Groups and other local or national groups, as requested by them to support their local or national work, or our global work.

It was exciting to attend the World Health Assembly in tandem with Peter Mittler, so that someone from DAI was there when the WHO Global Action Plan: A Public Health Response to Dementia was unanimously adopted in May. This was a big step, but there is a lot of work to be done by everyone, including by DAI towards the implementation of the Action Plan.

A number of members have also been busy with the continued pursuit of a human rights based approach to dementia, and many people with dementia have attended various WHO meetings or forums in Geneva. DAI has also become a full member of the Conventions of State Parties, and in March 2018, will apply to be in official relationships with the WHO. We have also been working with them by attending events and workshops in the implementation of the Global Dementia Action Plan adopted in May 2017.

DAI and ADI jointly produce a document Access to CRPD and SDG’s by Persons with Dementia, to present to ADI council members at the ADI conference in Kyoto, including a workshop for members on how to implement the CRPD for people with dementia in their countries.

DAI has made a number of submissions this year, including one this week to the WHO highlighting the draft of the 13th General Programme of Work 2019-2023 does not include people with dementia or older persons. We regularly co-sign letters written by the LEAD Coalition in the USA, in an effort to improve health care in the USA, and recently submitted a DAI letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Strategic Planning Team regarding their Strategic Plan on behalf of our members in the USA. In this letter, we highlighted the opportunities for their draft Strategic Plan to be more specific about strategies for diversity in clinical trials and research as well as strategies for improving quality of life among people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia

The Older Persons Convention is currently under review, and we are also working towards ensuring it is aligned to the CRPD, and in which we hope the final draft will reflect this as well as include dementia.

Dementia Working Groups
This year, we acknowledge and congratulate the newly founded 3 Nations Dementia Working Group which represents England, Ireland and Wales was launched in May. New Zealand also just launched their first Dementia Advisory Group of people with dementia. The JDWG is becoming involved in global human rights work, and the OADG continues to work hard to turn human rights from rhetoric to action in Canada. Many national and local Dementia Working Groups are either increasing their presence, or being set up, ensuring the voices of people with dementia and our families are being heard.

A Meeting Of The Minds Webinars
We have had an excellent year of events with many international speakers, and the program for 2018 is already in progress. Next week, we focus on OT, and in December, we will host two social events, one to celebrate Christmas, and the other, and online Faith service for those members who no longer wish to attend their local Church. If there are topics, or certain speakers you would like hear from next year, please let us know.

Fundraising
Fundraising has been slow this year, but I wish to officially and personally thank every single person who has donated to DAI. Whether is it $5 or $500, every amount counts, and what we can do with 20, most other organisations would need more than $2000! We have to make the small funds we have stretch a long way, and also must keep funds in reserve for our future. Our fundraising team, also part of the Action Group are getting organised for campaign to get as many members to Chicago for the ADI conference in July next year as possible.

We also acknowledge and thank ADI for their ongoing support, strategic partnership and sponsorship.

International Disability Alliance
We applied for membership of this organisation, as it will give us a much better grounding in our human rights and disability focus, and we have recently retained observer status for another year. IDA has set up a committee to review and revise its Constitution, in order to enable an organisation such as DAI or Autism International to become full members, without having to have national DAI organisations. Professor Peter Mittler represented us recently at their AGM in Athens, and worked hard to encourage the setting up of the 2018 committee to review their constitution to allow an organisation such as DAI to become a full member. He continues with us in a consulting role.

Website update
We are in the process of updating out website, to make it more accessible and enabling, and where we will also soon have online member and supporter discussion forums similar to Talking Point.

Brain health Hub
We have also recently set up a private Facebook group and weekly meeting, called The Brain Health Hub to support members wanting to manage dementia (either themselves, or with the support of their own doctor) with a lifestyle approach to dementia including the Bredesen Protocol.

DAI Printing
We are also thrilled to be able to announce that Graphic Print in Adelaide has agreed to provide all of our printing pro bono. It wuld be helpful to find a print company in each country, e.g. the USA, UK and Canada, to ensure shipping costs do not undo the benefits of this.

Financial reporting update
This year, we have had the services of Mr. Bill Kerr, from Hillstrom, Kerr and Company Incorporated to complete our monthly financial reports, and we will publish our second Annual Report in January 2018

Thanks to you all
We continue to welcome new members and are finding the growth of our support groups is a unique free global service actively supporting and empowering our members to live with a better quality of life. My sincere thanks to everyone for their continuing dedication to improving the lives of people with dementia and our families, and I look forward to working with the new board in 2018.

Finally, I close by reminding us of the Margaret Mead quote, which we have had on our website from day one of DAI’s existence:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

We look forward to sharing our 4^th birthday with your all in 2018!

Best wishes and thanks,
Kate Swaffer