What happens to older disabled people?
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In the disability movement we talk about Choices and Rights but what real choices and rights will I really have as an older disabled person living on the state?
I have tried to work, all my adult life; it hasn’t been easy and two redundancies have inflicted some deep scars. But I still believe that work pays in so many ways. It’s not just about pride or being financially independent and in control. For me, it’s about securing a future for myself and my family where I don’t become dependent on them or worse still, the state. I fear getting old in a society that does not seem to value older people, let alone older disabled people. Allan Sutherland, in his brilliant poem, asks ‘What Happens to Old Epileptics?’ I want to know, what happens to old disabled people? I have met very few older people with my own condition, cerebral palsy – where do we go and how on Earth do we live in our old age if we haven’t paid into the system? Are we shut away in our own homes reliant on a crumbling so...
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