Unequal Ageing

For a shockingly high number of older people, growing older is not the media's soft-focus vision of fun times and fond grandchildren but a journey of loss: loss of work and opportunity to contribute, health and well-being, family and friends. Over two million older people are stuck in persistent poverty. The diseases and disabilities associated with growing older multiply with the dramatic ageing of the population, yet the response of communities and care systems is often inadequate and ageism still abounds. At least one million of our seniors feel society has left them behind and that their lives have been reduced to survival. "Unequal Ageing" analyses the vital dimensions of money, health, place, quality of life and identity, and demonstrates the gaps of treatment and outcomes between older and younger people, and between different groups of older people. This powerful book, written by leading experts in the field, provides strong evidence of the scale of current disadvantage in the UK and suggests actions that could begin to change the picture of unequal ageing. The book is aimed at all those with a serious interest in the unprecedented challenge of our ageing society. It will be of importance to policy-makers striving to develop workable solutions, to professionals responsible for implementing those solutions, to opinion-formers wishing to examine the way attitudes about ageing are shaped, and above all to older people themselves.