Elder and Disability Liberation
Both disability and elder oppression are based in economic oppression—in the false assumption that elders and people with disabilities have little or no value to society.
Disability oppression says there is something wrong with our bodies and uses that as the excuse for the oppression.
Elder oppression uses false assumptions about our age and bodies as the excuse for the oppression.
Disability liberation is central to our liberation as elders.
As elders, we are assumed to be disabled, either physically or mentally, whether we are or not. When we get to a certain age, disability oppression comes at us as part of elder oppression. Many of us try to avoid both oppressions by trying to ignore or hide the changes happening to our bodies, by pretending we are not aging until the changes become too big to ignore. This does not help us think well about ourselves or other elders.
Many of us worry about what will happen to us if or when we need more help to live in our homes and communities. We worry about being forced into long-term care institutions. When we cannot stay in our homes and communities, it is not because we are old but because we are disabled and our societies do not provide the resources needed for people with disabilities to remain where they are.
Change is possible. As elders we can identify as people with disabilities and work with the disability rights movement. This will empower our elder liberation work. It will help us think better about ourselves and the elders we love. Many of the rights we already have as older people exist because of the work of the disability rights movement.
Yarmouth, Maine, USA
(Present Time 209, October 2022)