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Age Discrimination

To keep abreast of events I tend to register with as many health and social care agencies I can. This includes the Department of Health and latterly, they asked for people to register as ‘Dignity Champions.’ So I did (I’m old enough and cynical enough to sift the substance, if any, out of government propaganda).

Since registering I’ve had a couple of very informative mails and in the latest they were asking for examples of age discrimination to be posted on the ‘Dignity Champions’ Discussion Forum which is a DH thing open to those registered.

My posting is copied here on PPlog and if anyone has any other examples, please either register or send them to me to post on their behalf. But hey, I’m not suggesting for a moment DH will take any notice of them but the more written records of service user evidence there is on official sites, the better and maybe ULOs like Shaping our Lives and the National Survivors User Network (NSUN) could compile a database of these?

“As a senior mental health social worker (ill health retirement 1999 and now a service user) I and some colleagues were campaigning since the 1980s about the discrimination experienced by people over 65 by the split in mental health services: 16 to 65 and 65+. This meant that those under 65 received a (nearly) complete range of holistic services and those over 65 were denied these.

Through my activities as a service user today, both nationally (Shaping our Lives, NALM, NSUN, PPlog (http://micoxpplog.blogspot.com) and locally, LINks, NCODP, EDC, advocacy, I am aware that these practices survive in some trusts and local authorities. This institutional discrimination can also be exacerbated by the threshold criteria levels used by public authorities. Please outlaw these examples of gross discrimination in the Bill.”

Heddwch.

Mike.

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