It is explained brilliantly in the free online Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends information sessions. Imagine your memory as a rickety bookcase, with your earliest childhood memories as books on the bottom shelf and your most recent ones on the top shelf. When you have dementia, that bookcase wobbles more and more, and the books at the top fall off the shelf.

This memory bookcase sits next to your well-built emotional bookcase containing the emotions associated with each memory. For example, you may recall how you loved a particular subject at school because of a kind, fun teacher. This bookcase is strong, it doesn’t wobble, it lasts much longer.

Dementia is a disease of the brain that can affect anyone at any age and affects everyone differently. There are more than 100 different forms. Think of the brain as a set of fairy lights, with each light having a different function. Some lights become dimmer, some start flashing, some stop working.

Apart from memory, it can affect motor skills, sequencing, inhibition, communication and visual perception. So, listen, repeat back what they’ve said to give confidence, speak clearly in short sentences, don’t bombard with questions and give them time to process questions and formulate answers. In some cases, it helps to reduce distractions, such as turning off the radio and TV. Sometimes, using photos will help jog the memory.

When vision is affected, a white light switch on a white wall may be difficult to see, as will a white sandwich on a white plate. A black floormat may look like a hole in the ground, a shiny floor my appear wet.

A lot of research has gone into how newly diagnosed people feel; tragically, it’s lonely and isolated. There is more to that person than their dementia. It is possible to live well with this disease and you can help them to do just that.