You Can’t Ask That: July 13

The final episode of You Can’t Ask That this season looks at the cruel disease of Dementia.

“That’s the most terrifying thing for people, is to feel that with the diagnosis of dementia you lose overtime
that fragmentary loss of self, of soul,” explains Sarah Ashton, 61, one of the 470 000 people living with dementia nationally.

For women, it is the leading cause of death and comes in second for all Australians. Despite its prevalence, the often-debilitating neurodegenerative disease remains misunderstood and often gets missed altogether.

“Oh f*** but you don’t look like you’ve got dementia?” rages Sarah, as she reads the question card. “I’m sorry
if I don’t look like I’ve got dementia but trust me, you just want to deal with me on a daily basis when I get so p**sed off with myself it’s not funny,” she says.

An organ as complex as the brain is capable of producing symptoms ranging from innocuous to surreal, with over a hundred different variants of the disease.

“I would come out of my bedroom door and see a crocodile on the floor in my kitchen or my lounge room. I couldn’t trust my own eyes,” begins Steve Coleman, 52, who was diagnosed with younger-onset Lewy Body Dementia in his early 40s.

“I thought, No, this can’t be what I’ve got. I’m only 42. How can I have dementia at this age?” he says.

The former photocopier repairman was, ironically, working as an assistant nurse in the Dementia wing of an
aged care facility when he got the news. Despite having experienced many uplifting moments during his time working there, he feared the worst.

9:09pm Wednesday on ABC.