Upstream is planning its first conference and you’re invited!

If Scotland is to support people living with dementia to maintain their independence, continue community activities and retain social connections, then transport and related mobility providers need to respond and develop in ways that are informed by real-life experience.

Upstream can help transport providers to understand how they can do this by designing processes that put people with dementia at the heart of future mobility design.

Upstream has spent six months meeting and working with some fantastic people around Scotland and beyond – people affected by dementia, transport service providers and others who contribute to the travel experience. They’ve learned about some great initiatives to help people travel with dementia and started to develop a few ideas of their own. They now want to gather this new network together to meet, share and learn from each other.

We think it’s a unique opportunity.

– If you’re in the transport industry, this is a chance to hear first-hand experience about travelling with dementia and some ideas for making services more enabling for people.

– If you’re living with dementia, or caring for or supporting people with dementia, this is an opportunity to meet operators and authorities and hear about the work they are doing to make travel more accessible and also to contribute to the conversation.

– If you represent other services that make up the travel and transport experience – retail, arts and leisure, ticketing etc – come along and see what role you can play (or share what you’re already doing) to make mobility more accessible.

Join us to hear more about Upstream, help us to develop ideas for inclusive mobility design and learn about other initiatives working to make travel and transport better for people living with hidden disabilities.

It will take place on Wednesday 7th December 2016, starting at 2pm. The conference will be followed by a reception to allow for more relaxed discussion and reflection and we hope you’ll join us for this from 5:30 onwards, finishing at around 7pm.

The venue will be the Edinburgh Festival Theatre which is continuing its dementia-friendly upgrade and programme of events. There will be an opportunity to hear more about this work and to see the changes being made at the venue.

Click ‘Register‘ or call 0131 473 1594 to reserve your place – it’s free!

Upstream want to make Travelling Well with Dementia a dementia-friendly event – please let us know what that means to you on the registration form or use the contact form.