Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP, will report about her experience shadowing an older Croydon resident at Help the Aged’s event "Age Equality: Ours by Right" tomorrow 1. Last Friday, Jean spent a day with 76-year-old Bernard Rickman to find out about the difficulties older people face in their day-to-day life 2.
The event will address the ways in which older people are disadvantaged in society. Jean Lambert and Bernard Rickman will take the floor in the morning to share their experience. Jean Lambert MEP said:
"As we grow older we often become less mobile and less steady on our feet. Stairs and slopes can become problematic and deteriorating eyesight and hearing can impair our enjoyment of everyday life. Sadly, our towns and cities are often not designed with older people in mind.
"Legally, older people are only protected from discrimination in the workplace, yet they face injustice in many other areas of their lives. They can be refused bank loans or insurance and even vital medication simply because of their age.
"Care services that are essential for older people, like chiropody, are continually being scaled back. Older people’s concerns are often at the bottom of the pile when it comes to services planning and this has got to change."
The Help the Aged event marks the end of the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, during which Jean Lambert has called for better legal protection from discrimination on grounds of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief.
The UK Government and the European Commission are both reviewing current laws on discrimination. Consultations on new legislation have recently taken place at both levels and in 2008 a raft of new laws is likely to be introduced.