Contributors
The inaugural Enabling Festival 2018, which is being launched on October 5, 2018, will focus on supporting persons with dementia as well as their caregivers. Organised by social enterprise Enable Asia and One Maker Group, the three-day event at the National Design Centre will encompass dementia films, theatre, music, dance, design, photography, medical and educational workshops. There will also be keynote address which focuses on early detection.
Shared Daniel Lim, co-founder of Enable Asia: “While preventing dementia is still a long way to go, there are already millions who are living with dementia. The Enabling Festival 2018 brings together an event where art, technology, science and medical are in one place and where you can imagine a world where dementia is nothing but a distant memory.”
Lim is a full-time working professional and has been a caregiver for his father who has been living with dementia for the last 10 years, as well as a caregiver to his mother who has had cancer since 2009 and who is a proud survivor. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Lim’s story has been published on ProjectCare.)
Today, an estimated one in 10 people aged 60 and above in Singapore has dementia and this number is expected to double by 2030. While various initiatives and programmes relating to dementia have been introduced in recent years, Enable Asia believes the community needs to come together, explore new ideas and further strengthen efforts in making Singapore a dementia-friendly nation. Through the Enabling Festival, it hopes to create and empower a nurturing community that accepts and supports dementia patients and their caregivers.
It will be the first of a series of annual Enabling Festivals that seeks to showcase possibilities that focus on the enablement of people living with dementia so as to provide them with a better quality and dignified life.
This year’s Enabling Festival is supported by the Central Community Development Council’s Do-Good-Fund, DesignSingapore Council, Our SG Fund, and other key partners. To find more about the Festival, go to: http://enableasia.org/enablingfestival/ on get the programme sheet at: https://bit.ly/2NIacz4.
(* PHOTO CREDIT: Enable Asia)
