Social Forum. Geneva, 1-3 de april 2014
Los derechos de las personas de edad
Age discrimination:
The last socially acceptable discrimination?
Jorge Plano (Argentina)
Coordinación de Organismos de la
Sociedad Civil de América Latina y el Caribe
sobre Envejecimiento y Vejez CORV
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 Concepts
 Cases
 Proposals
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ageism
“process of systematic stereotyping or
discrimination against people because they
are old, just as racism and sexism
accomplish with skin colour and gender.
Ageism allows the younger generations to
see older people as different than
themselves; thus they subtly cease to
identify with their elders as human beings.”
Robert Butler, 1969
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Two faces of discrimination
Exclusion
Segregation
Contempt
Elimination
Patronizing
Clientelism
Pity
Overprotection
vs. a human rights perspective
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Prejudices and stereotypes
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Mental impairment
Disease
Low productivity at work
Only leisure
A burden on the family and the State
Asexual
Antitechnological
Death waiting room
Childlish
Passive
Sometimes these are
self-fulfilling prophecies
Lack of flexibility
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CASES
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European Union
Eurobarometer Survey
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Discrimination: by type
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Age discrimination: by country
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QALY / DALY concepts
(Quality-Adjusted Life Year /
Disability-Adjusted Life Year)
Related to the "global burden of disease"
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QALY / DALY and age
Also relative
weights < 1
are assigned
to different
types of
disabilities
World Bank, 1993
(Global burden of
disease)
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QALY / DALY usage
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QALY and DALY concepts were developed for
the macro evaluation of health budgets but are
being used as a policy rule to define actions like
research resources allocation and even
increasingly as a managerial tool to decide
personal medical interventions.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities put disability issues in the framework
of human rights, QALY/DALY returns it to a
medicalized view.
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QALY / DALY: reflections
All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights
How many steps to return to
eugenesia, to “lives unworthy
to be lived” and to recreate
Aktion T4?
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Older women in Tanzania
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Witchcraft in Tanzania
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Older women are targeted because of red eyes
which are associated with a witch but are in fact
the result of a lifetime of cooking in unventilated
kitchens
Disputes over property ownership and
inheritance have often led to accusations of
witchcraft which in turn result in violence, abuse
and killings of older women.
According to the Legal and Human Rights Centre
report (2009) there was a total of 2,585 killings of
older women for the period 2004-2009
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That is:
517 older women
killed per year in Tanzania
under accusation of witchcraft
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Ageism and age discrimination in
primary and community health care
in the United Kingdom
Centre for Policy on Ageing, 2009
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19.1. Evidence of discrimination in policies and practice
Older age is a factor in deciding to refer for specialist treatment
with low referral rates for older people for cholesterol testing,
angiography and revascularisation; Parkinson’s disease;
chronic kidney disease; and cancer
19.3. Evidence of discrimination in systems and structures
Older people, many with multiple conditions that can be
effectively managed, now constitute the main users of the
NHS, but there remains a general absence of a
multidisciplinary approach to care of older people with complex
needs. … There is evidence that multidisciplinary teams
achieve better outcomes for people with multiple pathologies
and functional problems.
Older people are moved into care homes without a
comprehensive assessment and opportunity for rehabilitation,
compared to younger people requiring support. There is
evidence that the 400,000 older people living in care homes
have difficulty accessing the services of a GP and other
primary care services.
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19.4. Evidence of discrimination in resources
Discrimination is implicit in a general lack of priority for
services that benefit older people, such as chiropody,
integrated falls services, continence services and audiology
services. Older people have difficulty accessing rehabilitation
services and dental services; older people have hearing and
vision conditions that are not identified but could be treated;
and there can be long waiting times to access aids which
would significantly improve quality of life.
ATTITUDES/PRACTICE
Covert discrimination that is difficult to challenge
arises from attitudes, custom and practice that
practitioners may not recognise as being ageist.
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Discrimination is the fundamental
obstacle that must be attacked to
achieve a change in the situation
of older people, because it is
based on ancient prejudice and
stereotypes and is the ideological
basis of behaviours and even have
an influence on policies.
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By taking discrimination as the
basis we are situating the older
people question as a human
rights issue.
Therefore is not enough with
goodwill, education and
campaigns.
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We need to generate a specific
binding international instrument
referred to older people, that
clearly states the equalization of
their rights and opportunities
establishing a universal and
mandatory framework
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Many thanks for your attention
Jorge Plano
jplano@yahoo.com
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