Aging, Disability, and Disabled Older People in India

Abstract

India is witnessing a demographic revolution, leading to a considerable increase in the proportion of older people in the population. Similarly, life expectancy of both the mentally and physically disabled has improved considerably. About 5% of Indian older people have problems with physical mobility. Aging has become a gender issue in India not only because more women are surviving into old age; they are also vulnerable and disadvantaged in many ways. In most cases they are the only caregivers available for the old and disabled. Older Indians are considered a high-risk group for multiple morbidity. It is estimated that nearly four million Indians suffer from mental problems. India has around 12 million people designated as "handicapped." However, little information is available about disabled people who grow older. The National Policy on Older Persons, which has been recently formulated, aims at providing an improved quality of life for millions of older Indians. However, the concerns of older disabled and of the disabled who grow old are still treated separately in both policy and practice.

Predictors of Depression in Aging South Asian Canadians

“…Also no data on gender roles were collected in this study, one likely reason is the inequalities in the traditional gender-role system in the South Asian culture (Bhattacharya 2006;Pande and Astone 2007;Tisdell 2002). Being in a patriarchal society, South Asian women traditionally are more passive (Chowdhury 2005;Prakash 2003;Shaikh and Hatcher 2004). They experience oppression in most cases throughout their lives; and they are expected to put themselves last and to be self-sacrificing (Arnold et al 1998;Narayan et al 2000).They have lower status and less power than men in a traditional South Asian culture (Jejeebhoy and Sathar 2001;Rani and Bonu 2003).…”

Poverty and Disability Among Indian Elderly

“…Though numerous literature is available on the relationship between disability and poverty 6 , very few are focused on elderly in India (Sengupta and Agree, 2003;Prakash, 2003). Audinarayana and Sheela (2002) reveal that elderly people who belong to the higher socio-economic class were found to have lesser disabilities.…”

“…The relationship between disability and poverty in developing countries has not been well-established in the quantitative literature (Braithwaite and Mont, 2008). Also, studies like Sengupta and Agree (2003) and Prakash (2003) are based on old data sources 7 and given the fact that in last two decades a lot of changes had taken place on the fronts of age structure, industrialization, urbanization, family disintegration and weakening of social safety nets for elderly in India and therefore, at least for the policy point of view, these studies may not be of much use.…”

Vision and Quality of Life Index: Validation of the Indian Version Using Rasch Analysis

“…3 Over the years, a marked increase in life expectancy witnessed by developing countries suggests that the elderly would constitute almost three-quarters of the population in these regions, similar to that of developed countries. 4,5 Given the increase in VI with age coupled with changing demographics, the prevalence of blindness and VI in India is predicted to rise with population ageing. 6 Vision impairment has detrimental effects, as it reduces a person's ability to perform activities of daily living; increases risk of depression, falls, and hip fractures; and impairs his/her quality of life (QoL).…”