Date & Time: April 28 (Tue), 13:30–15:30
Title: Who Gets to Be Social? Neurodiversity and Justice in Dementia Care
Speaker: Prof. Shu-Min Lin(Professor and Director, Graduate Institute of English Teaching, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)
Venue: Room 203, 2nd Floor, Humanities and Social Sciences Building II (HB203)
Abstract:
Who gets to count as social in dementia care? Drawing on five years of ethnographic research at adult day centers in Taiwan, this talk examines how neurodiversity-affirming care can be enacted in everyday institutional interactions. Using the concept of frame lamination, I analyze how a skilled caregiver and people living with dementia blend care task interactions with social engagement. Based on video-recorded naturally-occurring interactions, I show how exercise becomes shared, embodied engagement; how forgetfulness can be reframed as humor; and how even overhearing is treated as active participation. By taking a neurodiversity lens to examine dementia communication, this study expands what sociolinguistics recognizes as meaningful communication, challenges deficit-focused medical models of care, and reframes dementia care as a site of interactional justice.