Addressing the Human Rights Challenges of Older Persons with Disabilities

The World Health Organization has reported that approximately 16% of the global population, over 1.3 billion people worldwide, had some form of disability, and that an additional 190 million people (3.8% of people over 15 years of age) experience serious difficulties in functioning normally on a daily basis. In the US, 61 million, or 26% of, adult Americans have some form of disability, and 2 in 5 adults over the age of 65 have a disability. It has been reported that close to half of all people over the age of 65 in the European Union have some form of disability, putting them at increased risk of neglect, loss of support, abuse and poverty. While the number of persons with disabilities is large, their experiences are diverse and not all people with disabilities are equally disadvantaged. For example, disability does not necessarily imply limited well-being and poverty; however, growing evidence confirms that disability and poverty are highly correlated, and that disability is both a cause and consequence of poverty and disability and poverty reinforce each other in ways that contribute to increased vulnerability and exclusion. While the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted in 2006 and went into force in 2008, making it the first binding international instrument addressing the needs of persons with disabilities worldwide, disabled persons of all ages, and particular those who are older, face a number of barriers to inclusion including attitudinal barriers (e.g., stereotypes, prejudices, other forms of paternalistic and patronizing treatment, discrimination, fear, bullying and low expectations of people with disabilities); institutional barriers (i.e., laws, policies, strategies or practices that discriminate against people with disabilities including lack of enforcement and political support for policies); “internalized” barriers (i.e., due to stigma and stereotyping, disabled persons refrain from pro-active behavior in expressing their opinions and claiming their rights); lack of participation including lack of consultation and involvement of people with disabilities in decision making; inadequate data, statistics and evidence on what works; and inaccurate concerns over the costs and difficulties of disability inclusion (e.g., concerns that disability inclusion is too difficult and requires specialist knowledge or require special programs that would unduly burden existing resources). In addition, older people with disabilities face special issues. In her July 2019 report to the UN General Assembly, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities identified several human rights challenges affecting older persons with disabilities, including stigma and stereotypes; direct and indirect discrimination; denial of autonomy and legal capacity; institutionalization and lack of community support; violence and abuse; lack of adequate social protection; and lack of access to palliative care. She argued that “[t]he intersection between older age and disability results in both aggravated forms of discrimination and specific human rights violations against older persons with disabilities” and that older persons with disabilities were subject to a greater extent to loss of power, denial of autonomy, marginalization and cultural devaluation; more prone to social isolation, exclusion, poverty and abuse; and vulnerable to gaps in human rights protection and age-biased interpretations of human rights standards. The Special Rapporteur also pointed to fragmentation of policies for older persons and persons with disabilities as leading to “the invisibility in law and in practice of experiences of disability in later life” which, when combined with a general perception that older persons with disabilities are a “burden” or “less deserving”, leads to members of these groups given lower priority in policies and receiving services that are of a lower quality, especially in situations where there is a scarcity of resources.This work discusses the wide range of topics that should be covered in any comprehensive campaign to address the human rights challenges of persons with disabilities including the intersection of ableism and ageism driven by ignorance and stigmatization, discrimination in the workplace against older persons with disabilities and the lack of employment opportunities for members of that group, access to adequate physical and mental health services, autonomy and legal capacity, abuse, inclusion of older persons with disabilities in the community (i.e., independent living, accessibility, adequate housing, inclusive and sustainable communities and participation), social protection, access to education and justice and protection of older persons with disabilities during emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic.