44% seniors face mistreatment in public space, says study
WHERE ARE WE HEADED? Sixtysix per cent elders in city feel unsafe with behaviour of motorists
LUCKNOW: Nearly 44% senior citizens are abused in public space while 64% of the elderly say people get away easily after being rude to them, says a study.
“Elder abuse is a sensitive topic. Over the past few years, we have been studying and researching elder abuse within the closed doors of one’s home. We have surveyed the elder perspective as well as the youth perspective. This year, we decided to move out of the home into the much broader area of public space,” said AK Singh, director and state head-UP, HelpAge (India). The organisation’s nationwide report on ‘How India treats its Elderly’ was released in Lucknow on Wednesday. UP minister for social welfare Ramapati Shastri and former UP Lok Ayukt Justice SC Verma (retired) jointly released it.
The research is both qualitative and quantitative with 4,615 elders interviewed face-to-face with a structured questionnaire. The charity is currently running a campaign to ‘Stop Ageism’ across the nation.
While a large percentage of the Indian society treats elders well, many seniors feel that today’s youngsters are callous and impatient.
“The core of it all is ‘ageism’ that is discrimination on the basis of age. Few understand it, but practise it knowingly or un-knowingly in their daily lives with elders. Simple things like assuming elders can’t understand technology or being impatient with elders, or pushing an elder in a hurry to get to their destination, or ignoring their utility due to their age, are just some of the issues. We are currently running a campaign to ‘Stop Ageism’ and the report will give us a greater insight to its practice in society,” he said.
The 19 cities covered in the study are: Tier 1: Delhi, Kolkata (WB), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Chennai (TN), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Bangalore (Karnataka), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Guwahati (Assam), Hyderabad (Telangana and AP), Lucknow (UP) and Shillong (Meghalaya); tier 2: Gorakhpur (UP), Gaya (Bihar), Ujjain (MP) and Warangal (Telangana) and tier 3: Hisar (Haryana), Purulia (WB), Satara (Maharashtra), and Kanchipuram (TN).
The survey reveals that there is also a vast majority of people in society who behave well with elders. But still nearly 1 out of 2 elders are mistreated, a significant number.
Where public transportation is concerned, 2 in 3 of those who take public bus reported that they are offered seats regularly. But a significant 16% elders experienced rudeness by bus conductors and drivers.
While there is good behaviour towards elders in the public space with 65% elders offered seats (2 in 3) in the public bus very often, 57% elders receiving special treatment from bank staff and 70% receiving proper attention from hospitals.
On service delivery points, still a significant proportion of elders, ranging from 11% to 19%, have received rude behaviour from the service delivery person.
These incidents occur most amongst post office staff (19%) followed closely at public hospitals (12%) and (13%) amongst bank staff.
Significantly, higher proportion of elders receives good treatment at private hospitals compared to public hospitals.
Elders have received rudeness even at the points of commercial transactions, such as chemists or vegetable vendors.
While nationally 44% elders have actually experienced abuse and mistreatment by society due to their age, in Delhi the figure stands at 23%.
Bangalore turned out to be the highest perpetrator with 70% elders experiencing abuse, followed by Hyderabad (60%), Guwahati (59%) and Kolkata (52%).
HelpAge’s campaign to ‘Stop Ageism’ is therefore aimed at sensitising people and making them aware of their own treatment towards elders.
It is a charitable organisation working with and for older people in India for the past 39 years, said Singh.
The research covers four main areas: Actual experiences of the elders as they interact with people and service providers, elder perceptions on elder ill-treatment, the general state of mind of the elders as they step out of their homes and a wish list of elder expectations from society, said AK Singh.