Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: members with dementia

[Tree Bressen (tree]

Hi,

> Have any of you dealt with a member suffering from dementia who makes 
> consensus difficult for the group?  We are an aging group and have one 
> person who is usually rational and intelligent but gets confused in 
> meetings and is unable to move from thought to thought.  He therefore gets 
> stuck in a position, which usually results in his blocking consensus.  Do 
> you think a form of consensus minus one would work, whereby the person 
> blocking has a set period of time in which to persuade another member of 
> their blocking concerns?  We'd like to hear your suggestions, experiences, 
> thoughts.

In general i'm wary of legislative solutions the actual goal of which are 
to deal with one particular person.  If there is a problem with someone, 
then i'd suggest sitting down to have a conversation with that person about 
the pattern, outside of any particular meeting.  Ask them what they think 
would help.

Of course my personal wariness doesn't mean that RoseWind or other groups 
should not put in place such policies.  Perhaps the whole group can use 
this as an opportunity to clarify its stance with regard to blocking, and 
what is an appropriate invocation of that power.  I suggest considering 
such refinements of understanding before making a major change to the 
consensus decision structure.

I once heard Caroline Estes (a highly respected facilitator) tell a story 
of a Quaker meeting where someone with Alzheimer's disease blocked a 
proposal and the clerk (facilitator) simply proceeded as if the person had 
not spoken.  I'm guessing that was a case where the person's dementia was 
more advanced than what you are describing here; your case sounds more 
mixed and that may be tougher to deal with.

Good luck,

--Tree



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Tree Bressen
1680 Walnut St.
Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 484-1156
tree [at] ic.org
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