Your friends stop visiting after your dementia diagnosis. They forget to call. You get dropped from the golf list after making a few scoring mistakes. The diagnosis didn't take away who you are. Dementia stigma makes you invisible while you're still here, still living, still deserving connection and respect.

Mario Gregorio uses cheat sheets with buzzwords during conversations. When his train of thought disappears mid-sentence, he says "I forget, it will pass" without distress or anxiety. He posts phrases in front of his monitor as reminders. The duplicate strategy solves searching anxiety: five nail clippers scattered everywhere, reading glasses in the living room, bedroom, kitchen. Friends disappear not from malice. They don't know how to react to the diagnosis.

Learn why remembering the person instead of the diagnosis prevents invisibility. Understand the tools that reduce anxiety: writing appointments on your hand when you forget you own a tracking book, laughing when thoughts go blank. Discover how Mario's grounded approach teaches life lessons applicable before dementia: humble mistakes, grounded forgetting, unconditional connection.

GUEST: Mario Gregorio | http://alzheimer.ca

Topics: dementia stigma, social isolation, friendship loss, adaptive memory tools, living with cognitive change

Originally aired on 2026-01-20