Equal opportunities, old age and disability revisited

I have often told the story that one of the challenges I had to respond to when I became a full-time community worker around the turn of the millennium was the need and expectation to produce and implement an equal opportunities policy for the (Trust Links / Growing Together) project I was helping to set up.

Six strands were identified that we needed to address when forming such a policy: age, disability, race, religion, sexual identity and sexual orientation, and not only should no one be discriminated against who might be placed in those categories but we were urged to ensure that in all we did not to place avoidable barriers on employees, volunteers or those served by our project. We did come up with policies that were generally regarded as acceptable and under my watch I do not recall any incident when practically speaking we did things stopping us providing equal opportunities.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, including a lot of what was intended by those pushing the equal opportunities agenda being now incorporated in the 2010 Equality Act. In principle, I like the idea of equality, but I do have reservations when invoking legislation to achieve these goals or when not recognising there may be exceptional cases. Another challenge concerns extending these six strands including, for example, those with carer responsibilities. While there are things I could say about race, religion, sexual identity and sexual orientation, I would like to focus my article on age and disability. There is a good reason for doing so: I am now old, mindful of my limitations and significant disabilities!

It has been some years since my involvement in that project and I no longer am responsible for heading up any community project. It gives me time to reflect on how things are and ought to be. For example, I object to the political correctness, which has continued to take hold on our society and to the extent that those who hold, or worse still express, views not deemed acceptable, including by elements of the self-appointed PC brigade, can be penalised. My view is a purely pragmatic one. When making staff and volunteer appointments this should be the best people for the job and those who share the values of the organisation they are required to serve, and when it comes to helping people there is inevitably limitations on who we can help and how, that has less to do with equal opportunities than achieving the best possible outcomes.

Some things pertinent to that early project were difficult to predict. I recall we spent significant amounts of money ensuring our project was wheelchair assessable, yet I do not recall anyone in a wheelchair using our disabled toilet. Yet there are many other disabilities we ignored, some of which I have succumbed to. Given the project that we wrote policies for was helping those with mental health issues, we did make adjustments to help those with that disability but little thought was given to other disabilities, including my own muscle wasting condition affecting movement. The point about disability is those who have a disability can often achieve a lot and while they not always be easy to employ (except with a lot of support and flexibility many employers can’t give). There may be limitations on what the disabled person can offer or be offered, recognising too that certain disabilities may be hidden and may not be admitted.

In my careers, firstly as a computer specialist and then as a community worker, I do not recall age being much of an issue. Yet now I am old myself, I can now see examples of people being discriminated against, even subtlety and inadvertently, based on their age. Often older people are relatively high maintenance and have limited capacities, including mental and physical endurance. The temptation is to cast such people onto one side, sometimes arguing it is necessary to bring on the young. I have seen too many examples of old people being placed on the proverbial scrap heap and not only seeing the resultant depression it causes them but we lose out from not getting what they are able and willing to give.   

I suppose if there is a moral to be drawn from these observations, whatever our position in life and the extent we can influence matters happens to be, it is important to do what we can to support and empower the elderly and disabled, doing so with sensitivity, for a more just and compassionate society that values all its members.