Virtual Readers' Theater – Join us to hear personal experiences of aging, dementia, and resilience.

About this event

Come join us to listen to the latest stories on aging and dementia from the hear/say group! Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute will be reading short oral histories on Friday, July 23, from 9–11 AM PT / 5–7 PM GMT+1.

Personal stories are a powerful way to share the rich, multi-dimensional nature of people’s experiences with aging, dementia, caregiving, and creativity. The hear/say project began as a collaboration between the Memory and Aging Center (MAC) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Voice of Witness in 2016. Our goal was to forge space for patients, caregivers, doctors, family members, researchers, nurses, artists, and more to share “stories of aging, dementia, art, work, and life.” We wanted to shed light on the personal and rarely heard day-to-day experiences of aging and dementia, and through the oral history process, reduce the stigma and othering that occurs by perpetuating a “single story.”

The project expanded in 2018 to include the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) and work directly with the Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health, an international cohort dedicated to protecting the world’s aging populations from threats to brain health. The expansion also included the making of a documentary film with Cynthia Stone Media. The hear/say project aspires to help others see the meaning and beauty in the experiences of others – for the stories, and the feelings that drive them, to ripple outwards to a global community that recognizes the need for action and empathy in caring for our aging population.

Both hear/say books can be downloaded as PDFs (Vol. 1, Vol. 2) and are available for sale from Norfolk Press.

RSVP here! After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the online event.