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Agency Restored, Dignity Preserved: Lessons Learned as an Art Historian About Enhancing…

Our Executive Director Susan Shifrin, contributed the article “Agency Restored, Dignity Preserved: Lessons Learned as an Art Historian About Enhancing Quality of Life for People With Dementia” to the online Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation.

Carl D and Justine Stehle looking at a painting in a gallery
Carl D. (right) and ARTZ Philadelphia facilitator Justine Stehle, engaging with works by artist Jes Gamble in Main Line Art Center exhibition Happily Ever After, October 2017. Photo credit: ARTZ Philadelphia.

This article at its core is about reinventing what agency within cultural settings—indeed, within their worlds at large—should look and feel like for people living with dementia. It is about rehabilitating our approach to and understanding of people who have experienced the stigmas of dementia diagnoses, about purposefully setting aside what some have referred to as the “master status”2 of the diagnosis and restoring the status of human identity and dignity. Read the article here

To learn more about the Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation., please visit: https://www.jhrehab.org/