Social Structures
Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL Institute)
In July 2019, the United Nations (UN) ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, said that:
‘The mainstreaming of the rights of older persons with disabilities into all disability and ageing-related policies and programmes is key to ensure that the concerns and needs of older persons with disabilities are adequately addressed’.
However, older persons with disabilities face an intersectional form of discrimination within the European Union (EU), which derives from the intersection of ‘ableism’ and ‘ageism’. People within the EU are now living longer than ever before, with 101.1 million people aged 65 or over residing within the EU-27 in early 2018. Close to half of all persons over the age of 65 in the EU have some form of disability. Incidences of disability in old age, especially acquired disability, increase substantially amongst individuals in older age categories and, as a result, older persons with disabilities are at increased risk of neglect, loss of supports, abuse and poverty, amongst other risks.
Continue reading “Ageism and Ableism: The Intersectional Discrimination Faced by Older Adults with Disabilities”