You may have lived in Australia for most of your adult life, speaking English every day. But if you acquired the language later in life and then develop dementia – a brain condition that affects thinking, memory and everyday function – you may lose fluency and find the language you spoke as a child takes over again.
For many migrants, this is the confronting reality. Language loss affects not only how they communicate with doctors and carers, but also how they connect with family, friends and the world around them.
More than one in four (28%) people living with dementia in Australia is from a culturally and linguistically diverse background.
