Ethics Untangled
Ethics Untangled is a series of conversations about the ethical issues that affect all of us, with academics who have spent some time thinking about them. It is brought to you by the IDEA Centre, a specialist unit for teaching, research, training and consultancy in Applied Ethics at the University of Leeds.
Find out more about IDEA, including our Masters programmes in Healthcare Ethics and Applied and Professional Ethics, our PhDs and our consultancy services, here:
ahc.leeds.ac.uk/ethics
Ethics Untangled is edited by Mark Smith at Leeds Media Services.
Music is by Kate Wood.
Ethics Untangled
59. How should we care for people living with dementia? With Matilda Carter
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In this episode, I'm talking to Matilda Carter, a lecturer in Applied Ethics at IDEA The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds, about the ethics of dementia care, and asking what justice requires for people living with dementia. In her book, Relating to People Living with Dementia as Equals, Matilda argues that the way we think of and treat people living with dementia raises issues concerning power, stigma, and the structures of care. Drawing on a relational conception of justice, Matilda examines how domination and oppression can shape the lives of people with dementia, and why we should recognise their capacity to live authentically. We’ll also discuss advance directives, secure care, and what a more just system of dementia care might look like.
Some further reading and other links recommended by Matilda:
Self-advocacy books:
- Christine Bryden, Will I Still Be Me?
- Kate Swaffer, What the Hell Happened to My Brain?
- Wendy Mitchell, Somebody I Used to Know
- Richard Taylor, Alzheimer’s From the Inside Out
- Critical Dementia Studies (an edited collection that includes some chapters by self-advocates)
Organisations supporting self-advocacy work:
Sources discussed in the interview:
- Ronald Dworkin, Life’s Dominion
- Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference
- Andrew Firlik, “Margo’s Logo”
- Rebecca Dresser, “Dworkin on Dementia”
- Agnieszka Jaworska, “Respecting the Margins of Agency”
Ethics Untangled is produced by IDEA, The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds.
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