Kate Swaffer
Kate Swaffer (born 1958) is a campaigner for the rights of people with dementia and older persons globally, and for dementia to be managed as a disability,[1] to ensure equal access to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). She was awarded Australian of the Year for South Australia in 2017,[2] and the 2018 winner of the Global Leader, AFR 100 Women of Influence in Australia.[3][4]
Kate Swaffer | |
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Born | 1958 (age 63–64) |
Nationality | Australian |
Education | Master of Science |
Alma mater | University of Wollongong |
Occupation | Author, Academic, Campaigner for Disability rights |
Years active | 10 |
Known for | Dementia and Disability Campaigner |
Awards |
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Early life
Swaffer was born in a farming community on Eyre Peninsula in 1958. She is married, and has two sons. Her first career was nursing, having worked in dementia and aged care and then operating theatres; she is also a retired chef having run her own hospitality businesses for ten years. She subsequently worked in health care sales.[5]
Swaffer was diagnosed with dementia shortly before her 50th birthday in 2008.[2] Subsequently, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Writing and Creative Communication and a Bachelor of Psychology. She has completed a Master of Science in Dementia Care (2014).
Activism and advocacy
Swaffer is also one of eight co founders[6] of Dementia Alliance International, a global advocacy and support group for people living with dementia which was launched on 1 January 2014.[7]
She is the only Australian to have been a full member of the World Dementia Council and is an elected board member of Alzheimer's Disease International, serving her second term. Her (incomplete) PhD at the University of Wollongong and University of South Australia focused on economic stigma. She is an Honorary Associate Fellow with the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), and an International Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Swaffer completed a Master of Science in Dementia Care in 2014.
In her human rights work, Swaffer is the first person living with a diagnosis of dementia to give an invited keynote speech at an agency of the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), at the First Ministerial Conference on Dementia in March 2015, where she demanded human rights, access to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) for all people with dementia, and a balance in research between care and cure on the global stage. These demands were included in the WHO Final Call To Action, and human rights were included in the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017–2025, adopted at the World Health Assembly in May 2017.
Swaffer is an activist for human rights in aged and dementia care, for dementia as a disability, and for social justice as an advocate or in volunteering roles, and still volunteers for the homeless in South Australia, and the Bereaved Through Suicide Support Group (SA) Incorporated.
Swaffer is an academic, author and poet. Her books on dementia were released in 2016. Swaffer's first two volumes of poetry were published in 2012 and 2016.
Swaffer has been instrumental in bringing human rights to the fore in dementia and aged care, including recognition in practice for dementia being recognised as a disability through published articles and books, presentations and global campaigning. Since 2010, she has given more than 1000 invited presentations in the fields of dementia and human rights, disAbility, discrimination, stigma, dementia-enabling design principles, language, Inclusive Communities, Prescribed Disengagement®,[8] Models of care, Information Technology, Advocacy and Activism, dementia policy (local, national and global) and loss and grief.
Education
- PhD Candidate, University of South Australia, School of Justice and Society (Withdrawn), 2018-2020
- PhD Candidate, University of Wollongong (2016 FT, then LoA, 2017- July 18)
- Master of Science, Dementia, (Distinction), University of Wollongong, 2014
- Bachelor of Psychology, University of South Australia, 2010
- Bachelor of Arts, Writing and Creative Communication, University of South Australia, 2009
- Certificate of Small Business Management, Business SA, 2005
- Graduate Diploma in Grief Counselling, University of Ballarat, 1989
- Chef Diploma: “Australian Cuisine with Cheong Liew”, Regency Park TAFE, 1987
- Nurses training, Whyalla Hospital and Cleve District Hospital, SA, 1975-1977
Awards and honours
- Ambassador, StepUp4DementiaResearch, Australia, 2019 - current
- Winner, Global Leader, AFR/Qantas 100 Women of Influence, 2018
- Winner, Australian of The Year, South Australia, 2017
- SA Parliamentary Motion (60) by the Hon Kelly Vincent MLC, 2017, unanimously accepted recognising her local, national and global work in dementia
- The Sir Keith Wilson Oration, Australian Gerontology Association (AAG) SA, 2017
- Listed in the Who's Who in Australia, annually since 2016
- Winner, Alumni Award Social Impact Award University of Wollongong, 2016
- Finalist, Social Impact, Westpac/AFR 100 Women of Influence, 2016
- Finalist, Australian of The Year Award, South Australian, 2016
- Winner, National Disability Awards: Emerging Leader in Disability Awareness in Australia, 2015
- Inaugural Winner, Dementia Leader, University of Stirling International Dementia Awards, 2015
- Inaugural winner, Dignity in Care Achievement Award, Outstanding Individual Contribution to Dignity in Care, 2015
- Winner, Bethanie Education Medallion Award, 2015
- Winner, University of Wollongong, AAG Community Engagement Award, 2015
- University of Wollongong, Alumni Award Social Impact Award, Runner up, 2015
- University of Wollongong, Master of Science (Dementia Care), Distinction, 2014
- Website Creating life with words: Love, Inspiration and Truth, archived in the PANDORA Collection of the State (SA) and National Library of Australia, 2012
- Dementia and the Arts, Also A Mirror, ECH Inc. and Urban Myth Theatre of Youth and Kate Swaffer, South Australia, 2012
- Patron for The Visitors, a play about Younger Onset Dementia, Urban Myth Theatre Group and ECH Residential Aged Care, 2012–13
- Bachelor of Psychology University Merit Award, University of South Australia, 2008
- Lifetime Golden Key Membership, University of South Australia, 2008
Works
- Swaffer, Kate (2016). What The Hell Happened to My Brain?: Living Beyond Dementia. ISBN 9781784500733.
- Swaffer, Kate; Low, Lee-Fay (2016). Diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another dementia. ISBN 9781742576442.
- Swaffer, Kate (2012). Love, life, loss : a roller-coaster of poetry. ISBN 9780987274502.
- Swaffer, Kate (2016). Love, life, loss : a roller coaster of poetry. Volume 2, Days with dementia. ISBN 9781760411855.
References
- The leading cause of disability (COSP12 Side Event). UN Web TV. United Nations. 13 June 2019.
- "Kate Swaffer". Australian of the Year. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
SA State Recipient Australian of the Year 2017
- "Kate Swaffer". AFR Women of Influence.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Tattersall, Hannah (14 October 2018). "Women of Influence 2018: turning brain drain into opportunity". Australian Financial Review.
- "Kate Swaffer". 100 Leaders Project. Purple Orange. 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- "Founding Members". Dementia Alliance International. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
- "Kate Swaffer". 2016 Alumni Award for Social Impact. University of Wollongong. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- Swaffer, Kate (2015). "Dementia and Prescribed Disengagement™". Dementia. 14 (1): 3–6. doi:10.1177/1471301214548136. PMID 25503628. S2CID 19105596.