Disempowerment, empowerment and older people

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the relative powerlessness of a group of people who are defined solely by their age. However, viewing those (for the sake of argument) over the age of 65 as a separate and special case for investigation could be seen as disempowering in itself. By doing this, older people are being grouped together, ghettoised, seen as different from the rest of the population. Yet failing to identify older people as singularly disadvantaged in this society is to run the risk of ignoring the processes and effects of the way in which a large section of our population is, simply because of their chronological age, denied full participation in the decision making that affects their lives.