On Vanishing

What makes us human? In a culture oriented towards the mind, it is easy to think that how well we can reason and express ourselves hold the keys. But this leads to a rejection of those of us who lose that ability. What about people with Alzheimers, or developmentally disabled people, or people with declining mental powers in old age? It is tempting to think that without mental powers and memory, human love and interaction ceases to matter. But what if it matters more, or at least as much? In her work as a chaplain Lynn Casteel Harper noticed how often people with memory and cognition disabilities were under attended as human being. She noticed that although her patients were less able to express themselves, active engagement was still possible and made a huge difference. As time went on this perspective became critically important for loving family members with the same deficits. In her book, On Vanishing, she proposes a new way of looking at people who have lost memory.