Newsflash: Environmental Design Special interest Group

As announced in our e-Newsletter earlier this week, the DAI Board of Directors has just endorsed a new group, the Environment and Dementia Special Interest Group (ED-SiG), an initiative co-founded by new board member, Emily Tan Tan Ong from Singapore, and DAI co-founder, Kate Swaffer.

It is an important initiative that DAI believes will increase opportunities for global collaboration and cooperation on a critical issue effecting people with dementia and our families.

The aim of this group is to create action following the award-winning ADI 2020 World Alzheimer's Report, and the subsequent Design Manifesto which was initiated by the lead authors of the WAR Report, Professor Richard Fleming, Kirsty Bennett and John Zeisel.

Ps. Don't forget to sign up for our next Webinar, From Rhetoric to Reality: Designing well for people living with dementia being presented by the authors and ADI's Acting CEO, Chris Lynch.

Purpose and role of the ED-SiG: The broad purpose of this group is to provide expert advice on and input into working towards the importance of, and more importantly, moving from the rhetoric of dementia-enabling design to the implementation of environmental design. This group proposes it is with a particular focus on dementia-enabling design in the community. Environment is more than just the built environment; it includes all the surrounding things that have a direct impact on our lives.

We believe there is a need to look into all aspects of environment including:

1. Natural environment – how can we incorporate the natural surroundings to provide the peace and tranquility to the quality of life of those living with dementia who need the calmness from the nature as a healing therapy
2. Built environment – how can buildings and infrastructures be designed in a manner that is accessible and usable by everyone including people with disability
3. Rehabilitative environment - how can the environment minimise impairments impact, activity limitation and participation restrictions
4. Communal living environment – how an environment can be intentionally created to reflect the shared values of a community
5. Sustainable environment – how an environment is designed to promote and support a more sustainable lifestyle like Grow Your Foods, the 3Rs, No Food Wastage

Aims of the EDG-SiG: The group is an initiative of DAI member Emily Tan Tan Ong, and was formally established in 2021, and approved by the board of Dementia Alliance International.

After years of costly and time consuming reports, multiple costly research projects, and many community initiatives such as the Dementia Friendly Communities, that none of these or other initiatives appear to have made little if any impact on improving inclusion and access, or quality of life, the time is now for action.

This group is therefore committed to advocate for action; to move away from rhetoric, to tangible change that really makes a difference.