Wednesday 30 September 2009

Ageing Secretary calls for need to "change cultural assumptions"

Angela Eagle MP, Minister for Pensions and an Ageing society has called for a change in the public perceptions of elderly people while speaking at the 'Tackling Worklessness in an Ageing Society' Fabian Fringe event.

"If you were to examine our general media and general approaches to older people, you'd find an image of them as very frail, shivering in dark somewhere, afraid to be attacked by vicious thugs - that is the image public has of older people. We need to change cultural assumptions."

Eagle explained reformed attitudes to the elderly are essential to dealing with the challenges of ageing in modern society:

"In many societies usually considered less 'advanced' than us, older people are the font of wisdom, wheras in our consumerist society, they're considered a burden and that has to change - the experience of life older people can bring is something we need to celebrate."

1 comment:

Unknown said...

A change in cultural assumptions is indeed precisely what the contemporary left needs to engage with - I wouldn't confine it merely to the subject of older people, though.