World Alzheimer’s Day: Supporting Independence While Living With Dementia

Every year on 21 September, World Alzheimer’s Day brings people together to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, challenge misconceptions and recognise the experiences of people living with dementia, their families and those supporting them.

The day forms part of World Alzheimer’s Month, a global campaign led by Alzheimer’s Disease International. In 2026, the organisation is also using the campaign to highlight the importance of diagnosis and developments in dementia research.

At Therapies on Thames, World Alzheimer’s Day is also an opportunity to highlight something that can sometimes be overlooked: a dementia diagnosis does not mean that rehabilitation, movement or meaningful everyday goals have to stop.

Rehabilitation and Life With Dementia

Dementia affects everybody differently. Changes in memory and thinking may be the most widely recognised symptoms, but people can also experience changes in mobility, confidence, balance and their ability to manage everyday activities.

This is where the right therapeutic support can make a meaningful difference.

Rehabilitation for someone living with dementia is not necessarily about returning to how things were before their diagnosis. Instead, it can focus on helping the individual maintain their abilities, remain involved in everyday activities and preserve as much independence as possible.

Alzheimer’s Society notes that therapies and structured activities can help people with Alzheimer’s maintain their abilities for as long as possible while supporting physical and emotional wellbeing.

Supporting Mobility Through Physiotherapy

Staying physically active can be particularly important as we get older, including for people living with dementia.

A physiotherapist can assess an individual’s movement, strength, balance and mobility before developing a programme suited to their current abilities and goals.

Depending on the person, this may include work around:

• maintaining strength and movement
• improving or preserving balance
• reducing the risk of falls
• practising transfers and walking
• building confidence when moving around
• maintaining physical function following illness or a hospital stay

At Therapies on Thames, physiotherapy programmes are personalised around each individual rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach. Therapy can also be adapted as someone’s needs change over time.

Occupational Therapy and Everyday Independence

For somebody living with dementia, maintaining independence is often about much more than mobility alone.

Activities such as washing, dressing, preparing food or moving safely around the home can become more challenging. Occupational therapists look at the person, the activity they are trying to complete and the environment around them to find practical ways of making everyday life easier and safer.

Support might involve adapting how a task is completed, reviewing equipment, recommending changes to the home environment or developing strategies that help the person continue participating in activities that matter to them.

Alzheimer’s Society also highlights the role occupational therapists can play in helping people with memory difficulties continue with daily activities and personal care, as well as offering advice around coping strategies and memory aids.

Dementia Rehabilitation Should Remain Person-Centred

A dementia diagnosis does not tell you everything about a person.

Their routines, interests, abilities, preferences and personal goals still matter, and these should remain central to rehabilitation.

For one person, a meaningful goal might be walking safely to the dining room. For another, it could be maintaining the ability to get dressed independently, move from a chair safely or spend time outside with their family.

Therapy may need to be delivered at a different pace or incorporated into familiar routines, particularly where somebody has more complex dementia needs. Therapies on Thames’ inpatient rehabilitation services can be adapted for people living with dementia, with programmes designed around individual ability, safety, familiarity and wellbeing.

Working With Families and Care Teams

Effective dementia rehabilitation rarely happens in isolation.

Families, carers, care home teams and healthcare professionals can all play an important role in supporting somebody to use the skills and strategies developed during therapy.

Consistency can be particularly valuable. Where exercises, mobility techniques or approaches to daily activities are incorporated into a person’s usual routine, therapy becomes part of everyday life rather than something that happens only during an appointment.

Therapies on Thames works with individuals in their own homes as well as care homes, private hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation settings, allowing therapy to be delivered in an environment appropriate to the individual’s needs.

Challenging Assumptions About Dementia

World Alzheimer’s Day is an important opportunity to challenge the idea that nothing can be done once somebody receives a dementia diagnosis.

While dementia is progressive and every person’s experience is different, there can still be meaningful opportunities to support mobility, confidence, safety and participation in everyday life.

Sometimes progress may mean improving an ability. At other times, the goal may simply be maintaining something for longer, preventing avoidable decline or finding a safer way to complete a familiar activity.

All of these outcomes can matter enormously to the person and those around them.

Supporting People Living With Dementia

Therapies on Thames provides specialist physiotherapy, occupational therapy and rehabilitation services for older adults, including support for people living with dementia.

Services can be delivered in the person’s own home, within care homes or through specialist inpatient rehabilitation, with therapy tailored to individual needs and goals.

This World Alzheimer’s Day, the message is an important one: dementia may change what somebody needs, but their independence, dignity and personal goals should continue to matter.

If you would like to discuss rehabilitation support for yourself, a family member or somebody in your care, contact the Therapies on Thames team to find out how we can help.