Hi Anthony,

I haven't read the book, and from the description and capsule review, it
doesn't seem clear enough to me what the person is advocating that is
different.

I can tell you that we always treated my mother in law with great respect
for her "personhood".    It was quite a trick when she was delusional
sometimes, but we did manage it.

Of all the people who have been posting here for the last few years, I think
that almost everyone has really worked at preserving their sense of autonomy
and "personhood" with their loved ones as well with few exceptions (or they
just didn't stick around very long after hearing us tell them they should)

Yes Anthony I have read it, I found the book itself very hard to get
into.However in my current studies I am fortunate to have a copy of
parts of it that makes more sense to me.
Tom Kitwood describes two contrasting cultures of care:

The Asylum tradition where those different human beings were labelled
The misfits, The mad, The deformed ,The beggars all were removed from
view in what was reagarded as Normal society. and placed into
institutions.This mentality started in the 17th century.

New culture: Dementia care is one of the richest areas of human work.It
requires very high levels of ability,creativity and insight.
In our involvement with those who have Dementia we are pushing our
humanity to its outer limits.