Episode 20:4 Lynn Casteel Harper on Why Dementia is a Disappearing Act

Lynn Casteel Harper explores the myths and metaphors surrounding dementia and aging in her debut book. Discover why this work has been chosen as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.

About Lynn

Lynn Casteel Harper is an essayist, minister, and chaplain. Her debut book, On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia, and What It Means to Disappear (Catapult, 2020), was named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle selection for 2021. On Vanishing appeared on the Gold Foundation’s 2021 Reading List for Compassionate Clinicians. 

Lynn’s essays and interviews have appeared in Kenyon Review Online, Salon, The Paris Review, North American Review, The Christian Science Monitor, NPR’s Think, The Sun Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant recipient and the winner of the 2017 Orison Anthology Award in Nonfiction.

A graduate of Wake Forest University Divinity School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s chaplain residency program, Lynn has served as the Minister of Older Adults at The Riverside Church in the City of New York and as a nursing home chaplain. Lynn lives and writes in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where she is the pastor of Olivet Congregational Church UCC.

Key Takeaways

• On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia, and What It Means to Disappear explores why those of us who don't have dementia are vanishing from those who do, and why dementia brings up so much fear and dread.
• The larger culture and educational system assume people living with dementia are not only diminished in capacity, but in their essential selves. Their humanity fades away.
• We internalize the idea that to be loved, we need to approach perfection. Releasing that allows for more fun and creativity.