Inclusion is Not Optional. It is a Human Rights Commitment

I’m delighted to share the following video by a dear friend and collegue of mine Mary Beth Wighton, produced in collaboration with Jessica Luh Kim. MB’s words resonate with the work done by so many of us over many decades towards realising the human rights of all people with dementia. My sincere thanks to them both!   

About the Video

This video was created for LeadingAge’s Advancing Dementia Inclusion: A Collaborative Convening – an invite-only gathering bringing together leaders committed to making dementia inclusion real, not aspirational. Mary Beth Wighton and Jessica Luh Kim have been part of LeadingAge’s Embracing Dementia Inclusion Series for several years, contributing to a growing conversation about what genuine inclusion looks like for people living with dementia – and what gets in the way.

What you will hear in this video is grounded in that work: the belief that inclusion is not a program or an add-on. It is a human rights commitment.

And that segregation – however well-intentioned – is not a care model.

If the video file below does not load or open, you can access the video on this resource page…

About the Presenters

Mary Beth Wighton
DEMENTIA  ADVOCATE · AUTHOR · LIVED EXPERIENCE FACILITATOR
Mary Beth Wighton is a dementia advocate, author, and lived experience facilitator who has been living with probable behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia since her diagnosis in 2012 at the age of 45. Rather than stepping back, she stepped forward – into policy rooms, national tables, and international conversations about what it actually means to uphold the rights of people living with dementia. A founding member of the Ontario Dementia Advisory Group and Dementia Advocacy Canada, she has testified before the Canadian Senate, contributed to Canada’s first National Dementia Conference, and served on the inaugural
Canadian Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia. Her advocacy is grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – a framework she returns to consistently in her work both in Canada and internationally – because for Mary Beth, inclusion is not a program or a policy initiative. It is a human rights obligation. Her book, Dignity & Dementia: Carpe Diem, draws on her own journals and has reached readers around the world.

Jessica Luh Kim
CONSULTANT · COACH · EDUCATOR
Jessica works at the intersection of strengths-based leadership, culture change, and organizational development – primarily in aging services and healthcare. Her practice is grounded in the belief that how organizations treat the people most at risk of being marginalized reveals more about their values than any mission statement. She teaches aging and gerontology in higher education, holds credentials as a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Certified Eden Alternative Educator, and Certified Dialogue Education Teacher, and consults and speaks across Canada and internationally. She co-created an award-winning training program for people who support individuals living with dementia, and was named a 2022 Walk With Me Trailblazer for her efforts to change the culture of aging in Canada. Her commitment to dementia inclusion is both professional and personal – shaped by her grandmothers, her experience as a family care partner, and a clear-eyed view that segregation is not a care model. It is a human rights failure.

Note: The introduction to the video and bios were provided by Jessica and MB, along with their permission to publish this video.

Thank you.