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Listening First: What First-Hand Accounts Teach Us

    Press/Media: Expert Comment

    Description

    A firsthand account is generated by someone who directly witnessed or participated in an event, providing a personal and immediate perspective (Keenan, 2022). These raw material narratives, often classified as primary sources, can be found in various forms such as diaries, letters, interviews, and books. They are vivid and invaluable unique insights from a person-perspective, or if you want the experts on lived experience of persons with dementia. The best evidence you can get regarding lived felt experience is best told by the people who lived through the condition.

     

    Period19 May 2026

    Media contributions

    1

    Media contributions

    • TitleListening First: What First-Hand Accounts Teach Us
      Degree of recognitionLocal
      Media name/outletUWS London Blog
      Media typeWeb
      Date19/05/26
      DescriptionAcross most academic disciplines, there will be topic areas or specific experiences that are very difficult for students to grasp the meaning, nature, or importance of without having had some exposure, connection or experience with the area of study. As a module coordinator for such an area, Living Well with Dementia, I want learners to reflect on the lived felt experiences of persons with dementia. One of the learning activities I use, and one popular in academic textbooks, is ‘imagine if/what it is like to have dementia?’, a difficult thing to do for anyone. Knowing the lived experience of people results in promoting learning from and empathy with people (Rudnick et al., 2011).

      Dementia is often described as an umbrella term for a range of range or collection of several neurological conditions affecting the brain that worsen over time (National Institure of Aging, 2025, DementiaUK, 2026, World Health Organisation, 2026). It is frequently described as a syndrome or a group of related symptoms such as, memory loss, confusion, changes in behaviour, and a growing need for support (National Institute for Health and care Excellence, 2026).

      But first-hand accounts remind us that dementia is not only a diagnosis. It is a lived experience shaped by fear, adaptation, dignity, frustration, humour, relationships and identity. When people living with dementia and those who care for them tell their own stories, they challenge stereotypes and replace abstraction with reality.
      Producer/AuthorDr Stephen Holmes
      PersonsStephen Holmes
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    Keywords

    • Dementia
    • Firsthand
    • Learning