LECTURE-5

PROBLEMS & ISSUES RELATED TO ELDERLY, DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED

AND GENDER MAINSTREAMING

Women, Aged and Disabled are often referred to as the vulnerable segments of Indian population.
Vulnerable groups are the groups which face discrimination and are unable to provide an adequate
income for the household for reasons of disability, illness, age or some other characteristic. Therefore, it
is important to sensitize the society regarding the problems and issues related to elderly, developmentally
challenged and gender mainstreaming, so that the rights, privileges and opportunities of these segments of
population can be restored for their peaceful co-existence in the society.

ISSUES RELATED TO ELDERLY

The elderly population in India is the second largest in the world, next only to China. It
has been reported that India is home to one out of 10 senior citizens in the world. India has
around 100 million elderly at present and the number is expected to increase to 323 million,
constituting 20 per cent of the total population, by 2050. The share of India’s population ages 60
and older is projected to climb from 8 percent in 2010 to 19 percent in 2050. For most of the
nations, regardless of their geographic location or developmental stage, the 60 and above age
group is growing faster than any younger segment of the older. As a matter of fact,
vulnerabilities towards the elderly arising out of poverty, rural living, income insecurity,
illiteracy, dependency, decreasing support base, etc is increasing.
The UN member states in 1982 first recognized the importance of addressing and
preventing abuse and neglect of older adults and has put it in the framework of the Universal
Human Rights. World over 15th June is marked as ‘World Elder Abuse Awareness Day’.

Current status

The United Nations observes World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) on June 15
every year to create awareness on the need of taking care of elders. Elder abuse is a global social
issue which affects the health and human rights of millions of older persons around the world,
and an issue which deserves the attention of the international community, says a UN report.
According to UN estimates, the global population of people aged 60 years and older is set to

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touch about 1.2 billion in 2025 and globally around 4 per cent to 6 per cent of elderly people
have experienced some form of maltreatment at home.

On the eve of “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day” (June 15) “HelpAge India”, a charity
working for the country’s elderly, revealed some startling facts through its nationwide report
(2016) on “Elder Abuse in India” with a sharp focus on the role of family. Salient findings of the
report are:

 20 percent of elders are abused i.e,. one in every five elder is facing some kind of abuse
in their homes.

 98 percent of the victims never file a complaint

 The Daughter-in-laws, Sons and the Daughters emerged as the topmost perpetrators and
53.2 percent of the disputed cases involve property or some kind of inheritance issues.

BASIC ISSUES
In the traditional Indian system elderly were respected and they had a great decision making power
in the family. Children felt duty bound to serve and respect the elderly and to contribute to the family
resources. Children sought the advice of elders for making major decisions and placed family resources at
the disposal of elders for sensible handling. During the last century this socio economic and value system
has slowly eroded. More and more couples are working full time, families have become smaller and
nuclear, migration and consumerism have become the order of the day. All these factors cause pressures
on families resulting in abuse, neglect and abandonment of the elderly. While most elderly are well
looked after, many suffer from poverty, loneliness, neglect, abuse and abandonment and find it difficult to
organize resources for their most basic needs as their children are either unable or unwilling to maintain
them. Problem of widows, widowers and the childless elderly is even more acute.
The major issues are:
1. Neglect, Abuse & Exploitation: Half of Indian elderly are dependents often due to widowhood,
divorce or separation and a majority of the elderly are women (70%). Majority of elderly lead an isolated
life, even if they are living with family, at home. The crime against elderly has increased by four times in
past decade. Around 2/3rd of elderly live in villages and nearly half are of poor socio-economic status.

2. Economic dependence : Majority of the elderly especially those among the poor are working on full
time basis, irrespective of their health status, mainly to earn a living. Many lead poor or very poor

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economic life and widows suffer the most. Many elderly provide economic help to their children.
Ownership of land/property significantly affects the status of the elderly in family matters.

3. Poor health status: Use of appropriate aids, regular medical checkups and intake of medicines among
the poor elderly is almost absent. Majority often suffer from chronic bronchitis, anaemia, blood pressure,
chest pain, heart attack, kidney problems, digestive problems, change in vision, diabetes and depression.
After a certain age, health problems begin to crop up leading to losing control over one’s body, even not
recognizing own family. Therefore, health education of the elderly should form an important aspect of the
health care so that they could learn certain do's and don'ts related to the different diseases and inculcate
these in their behavioral patterns through constant practice so as to prevent the occurrence of diseases or
reduce the effects of illnesses. Hence, it is suggested that

 There is a necessity to train both indigenous and allopathic doctors to handle the specific illnesses
associated with aging.
 It is necessary to set up subsidized health care for the elderly with special units in hospitals and with
free or highly subsidized medicines. Subsidized health care would also represent an indirect transfer of
resources to the family.
 Creation of special geriatric wards in major hospitals, setting up of special counters and geriatric out-
patients units in existing hospitals will greatly help the elderly.
 Social gerontology needs to form a part of the syllabus for medical professionals and
paraprofessionals so that they could integrate health education along with the health care provided to
the elderly persons.
 A proper coordination between health care and welfare measures needs to be attempted for that would
be most cost effective as well as more efficient.
 Majority of the elderly especially those among the poor are working on full time basis, irrespective of
their health status, mainly to earn a living. There is a necessity to introduce community based income
generating schemes for the benefit of the poor elderly.
 Among the poor strata of elderly, the non-availability of food may be a major factor responsible for
reduced in-take and consequent poor health. In view of this, supplementary nutrition programmes
targeting needy elderly in the poor localities may be considered on a priority basis, which ultimately
helps them in improving their health status.
 Community members have to be sensitized about the problems of the elderly so that a greater
commitment and involvement could be ensured in order to include "care for the elderly" within the
purview of Primary Health Care.

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4. Poor Legal Support:
All Indian citizens are entitled to fundamental rights guaranteed to them by the Indian
Constitution. Senior citizens are no exception. They are also entitled to fundamental rights to life and
personal liberty, freedom of speech and equality before law but these rights are often difficult for them to
achieve for a variety of reasons.
Most personal laws including the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 recognise duty of
the children to maintain their aged parents and the right of the parents to maintenance. Section 125 of the
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 specifically provides for maintenance from children if parents are unable
to maintain themselves but cases are rarely filed by parents due to love and affection, fear of stigma and
time and money required for the legal proceedings. A need has been felt for long for a simpler and faster
means and HelpAge India, as part of its work for the cause and care of the elderly, has been advocating
for provision of care and maintenance of the elderly amongst other measures.
Ironically, today thousands of older persons are forced to attend court cases for indefinite period of
time due to lethargic legal process and other vested interest groups. Their human rights are always at
stake. Indeed, older persons are the worst affected victims of our sluggish and insensitive system.
In 2010, the National Policy of Older Persons (NPOP) finished 10 years. To review it, Dr. V
Mohini Giri committee was set up by the government to assess the present status of various issues
concerning senior citizens and implementation of NPOP, 1999. The committee was also asked to draft a
new National Policy on Older Persons, keeping in view the emerging trends in demographic, socio-
economic, technological and other relevant fields.
However, the government of India has taken initiative to improve legal support to the elderly and
the elderly can now swing their sticks to good effect. If they find themselves in distress, they can fall back
on the `Maintenance & Welfare of Parents & Senior Citizens Act, 2007’. The Act mandates that all
those children who have abandoned their parents or have made them the subject of neglect in their homes
will have to face penal provisions and imprisonment of up to three months or a fine of Rs 5000 or both.
Under the Act, the Delhi government is starting nine tribunals across the city to take up the cases of
senior citizens and address reconciliation and maintenance issues.

ISSUES RELATED TO PEOPLE WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS

What is a developmental delay?

Developmental Delay is there when the child does not reach developmental milestones at the expected
time. It is an ongoing major or minor delay in the process of development. For example, if the normal
age for learning to walk is between 9 and 15 months, and a 20-month-old child has still not begun

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walking, this would be considered a developmental delay. As a child grows and develops, he learns
different skills, such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, or waving goodbye. These skills are
known as developmental milestones. A child with a developmental delay (a milestone delay of more than
2 standard deviations below the norm) does not reach these milestones at the same time as other children
the same age. Most often, at least initially, it is difficult or impossible to determine whether the delay is
permanent (i.e., known as a disability) or whether the child will ‘catch-up’ and be ‘normal’ or nearly
‘normal.’ There are five main groups of skills that make up the developmental milestones. A child may
have a developmental delay in one or more of these areas.

 Gross motor: using large groups of muscles to sit, stand, walk, run, etc., keeping
balance, and changing positions.
 Fine motor: using hands and fingers to be able to eat, draw, dress, play, write, and do
many other things.
 Language: speaking, using body language and gestures, communicating, and
understanding what others say.
 Cognitive: Thinking skills including learning, understanding, problem-solving,
reasoning, and remembering.
 Social: Interacting with others, having relationships with family, friends, and teachers,
cooperating, and responding to the feelings of others.

Causes of developmental delay?

Developmental delay can have many different causes like Genetic causes (Down syndrome),
complications of pregnancy and birth (prematurity or infections) and accidents and malnutrition.

Major prevailing developmental delays

1. Mental Retardation: Mental retardation means that a person’s ability to learn new things is slower or
retarded compared with the abilities of most people.

2. Cerebral Palsy: Cerebral palsy means that the messages from the brain to the legs or to the mouth or
to the hands, etc. are not complete. It’s hard for many people with cerebral palsy to talk, but its important
to remember that their slow, difficult speech does not mean that they are retarded. Most people with
cerebral palsy can do many things and most learn as quickly as anyone else.

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3. Visual Impairment/Blindness: Some people are legally blind or totally blind. A person who is legally
blind can still have some usable eyesight and may use large print books. Some people are almost totally
blind. Some children are born blind or become blind as a result of an accident or illness. Many blind
people can see some shadows and colors but they cannot see enough to read, to drive or to get around
without help. Most blind people have training in walking and reading Braille. Many blind people work at
interesting jobs, swim, ski and marry.

3. Hearing Impairment: A person who is hearing impaired can be either deaf or hard of hearing. There
are two different kinds of hearing loss. One kind is called a decibel loss and that means that the person
hears all sounds much more softly than a person with normal hearing does. Or, a person can have a
frequency loss. Frequency means the pitch of a sound, so with a frequency loss, you would hear some
pitches better than others. Because our language is made up of high and low pitches sounds, a person with
a frequency loss would hear all of some words, some parts of some words, and would miss some words
altogether. A deaf person could inherit a hearing loss. Deafness can also be the result of accident or a
disease. Some deaf children are taught only to use sign language, while others are taught only to lip read.
Some combine signing, lip reading and their own voices.

4. Orthopedically handicapped: Orthopedic handicaps are conditions of the skeletal system that limit a
person's abilities to move.

KEY ISSUES & PROBLEMS

In the fast developing world, lot of favourable things have happened and are still happening in a
much faster pace. Aesthetics and Technology has come hand in hand, creating beautiful barriers in the
environment around. The barriers in the society can be mainly classified into two: the environmental &
attitudinal barriers. The major environmental barriers are of two types: Architectural and
Communication. Lack of information is another major barrier faced by Disabled People. In addition to
this is the disability insensitive attitude, which promotes the barriers first hand.

ENVIRONMENTAL BARRIERS

 Architectural barriers in buildings include lack of Ramps, Railings, Signage, Braille Print,
Adequate Spacing, Slip Resistant Flooring, Accessible Toilets and Chairs, Switches, Shelves, Wash
Basins, Taps & Telephone at an accessible height. This kind of infrastructure help disabled people to
be at ease and do their routines with minimum or no support. Apart from becoming self-reliant, such
an internal atmosphere boosts their self-confidence and avoids unnecessary delay.

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  Communication is another area where there is not enough focus paid upon. People having
communication barriers are the ones who face lot of hardships in socialization. At present,
Communication is bound within language and speech. In reality, much more communication can
happen in silence. There is an inappropriate school of thought stating that people with
communication disabilities cannot communicate or don’t know to communicate. The fact is reverse.
Any one and every one communicates in a day-to-day living. But, the society that claims to be
communicative or communicable doesn’t bother to receive or understand what the disabled person is
communicating.

Major communication barriers in the society include lack of Readers, Braille Material / Manuals /
Magazines / Government Orders/ Gazette / News Papers and Scribe Facility for people with Visual
Impairment, lack of Sign Language & Sign Language Interpreters for People with Hearing
Impairment, lack of Communication Aids and technical devices for people with severe disabilities
and a lack of importance to research on Alternative & Augmentative Communication, which hinders
a huge amount of human resource in contributing towards the development of the country. Apart from
these, there is an immense need for disabled friendly curriculum and examination system, which
involve a variety of options and adaptations.

The areas that get affected due to these barriers include Education and Information leading to
intellectual disability, Employment leading to financial disability, Play, Leisure and Health leading to
Health issues, all the above affecting the Rights and Contribution of disabled people leading to isolation
from society, affecting their Self Esteem, (Sense of) Social Respect and Dignity of Life leading to an
emotional disability; an all round life of disability.

ATTITUDINAL BARRIERS

The real issue behind these barriers is the disability insensitive attitude of the society. Even a
stringent law can do very less unless there is a change in the mindset of people and a willingness to accept
and respect (disabled) people. There is an attitude of relating a disabled person with his or her disability
and not to his/her abilities. The society should be dynamic enough to Accept all Differences, as the world
exists only because of its differences and the natural balance among them. It also becomes the duty of
each member of the society to Respect Individuality and Mutual Rights of any (disabled) member of
the society. The society should develop a natural tendency to provide Equal Opportunities to disabled
people, where by they can enjoy their rights and as well contribute to the society. All citizens should have
the attitude to Value the Contribution of disabled people as they do their own. For such an attitudinal
shift to happen, the society should Believe in Disabled people and that they are like anybody else.

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EDUCATION
By creating special schools and by creating special teachers in the country - in the world in fact -
a big mistake has been committed. If there were no special schools, no special teachers, probably the
society would have learnt over the years to cater to different disabilities. By segregating them,
somewhere, the main stream schools have never felt it to be their responsibility to include all children.
It is a well known fact that enrolment in mainstream school alone is not the answer. It is
important for the education system to respond to the needs of disabled people. Even the integrated
education system is catering only to mildly disabled people. Whoever receives special education never
gets standardized curriculum; and a very few reach up to college education or even 11 th or 12th class.

The results of a survey conducted in 320 odd universities and schools shows that only 0.1% of
disabled students are in universities and 0.5% in mainstream schools. Clearly, a huge amount of neglect
prevails in the society.

Least priority has been given to the education of disabled children, due to the following reasons:

(1) The attitude of the parents, family members and the community is that, there is no use of
a disabled child being educated and it is a wastage of time, money and other resources, as they think
that a disabled child / adult is not productive in any way. The capitalist mentality of the society also
prevents the disabled child from enjoying the Right to Education as conferred by the Constitution of
India.

(2) When there are other siblings for a disabled child, the disabled child gets the least priority in
education compared to his/her siblings, either due to poverty of parents or the attitudinal barriers
in the society. Poverty and Disability is a vicious circle. Due to poverty education is denied for
children. Even if parents from the economically weaker sections of the society want to educate their
children, the opportunity of a disabled child going to school is a rarity, as the cost involved in educating
a disabled child is more when compared to a non- disabled child, due to the architectural barriers in the
society.

(3) The prevalence of architectural and environmental barriers such as inaccessible built
environment, school buildings, roads, transport and so on. Many times parents will have to carry
their disabled child due to the architectural and environmental barriers. They cannot use public
transport and private transport is too expensive for them. Thus as the child grows older their
environment is restricted to their home.

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(4) The education system is also inaccessible for many disabled students, as the teaching methods,
learning aids, the curriculum itself and the evaluation system is not disabled friendly. (Braille books
and materials, readers for students with visual impairment, sign language interpretation and teaching
are not available in most schools). Even when alternative teaching methods are used, the same
methods are not used for evaluation. For example if a child is taught using the Picture Communication
System they are not evaluated using this system. This allows little opportunity for Disabled People to
continue with their education. Augmentative and Alternative Communication Techniques are
confined only to few special schools.

(5) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) talks of Education for all. The fact remains that many disabled
people are not enrolled under this scheme due to the severity of Disability. Also teachers are not
trained in inclusive education.

(6)The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 does not speak of reservations in Higher Educational
Institutions and only talks about open universities. Many Disabled People are denied entry into
professional courses like MBA, Engineering and Medicine due to their disability.

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GENDER MAINSTREAMING

The concept of bringing gender issues into the mainstream of society was clearly established as a
global strategy for promoting gender equality in the Platform for Action adopted at the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing (China) in 1995. It highlighted the necessity to
ensure that gender equality is a primary goal in all area(s) of social and economic development.

Mainstreaming involve changes in goals, strategies and actions to ensure that both women and
men can influence, participate in and benefit from development processes. In India, Gender
Mainstreaming is mostly done through policies for Women Empowerment which involve awareness
raising, building self confidence, expansion of choices, increased access to and control over resources and
actions to transform the structures and institutions which strengthen and bring about gender
discrimination and inequality. The ultimate goal of Gender mainstreaming is to achieve gender equality.

Mainstreaming includes gender-specific activities and positive action, whenever women or men
are in a particularly disadvantageous position. Gender-specific interventions can target women
exclusively, men and women together, or only men, to enable them to participate in and benefit equally
from development efforts. These are necessary temporary measures designed to fight the direct and
indirect consequences of past discrimination.

Transformation by Mainstreaming
Mainstreaming is not about adding a "woman's component" or even a "gender equality component" into
an existing activity. It goes beyond increasing women's participation; it means bringing the experience,
knowledge, and interests of women and men to bear on the development agenda.
It may require identifying the need for changes in that agenda. It may require changes in goals,
strategies, and actions so that both women and men can influence, participate in, and benefit from
development processes. The goal of mainstreaming gender equality is thus the transformation of unequal
social and institutional structures into equal and just structures for both men and women.

Basic Principles of Mainstreaming

Responsibility for implementing the mainstreaming strategy is system-wide, and rests at the highest levels
within agencies, according to Carolyn Hannan, Director of the UN Division for the Advancement of
Women. Other principles include:

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• Adequate accountability mechanisms for monitoring progress need to be established.
• The initial identification of issues and problems across all area(s) of activity should be such that gender
differences and disparities can be diagnosed.
• Assumptions that issues or problems are neutral from a gender-equality perspective should never be
made.
• Gender analysis should always be carried out.
• Clear political will and allocation of adequate resources for mainstreaming, including additional
financial and human resources if necessary, are important for translation of the concept into practice.
• Gender mainstreaming requires that efforts be made to broaden women's equitable participation at all
levels of decision-making.
• Mainstreaming does not replace the need for targeted, women-specific policies and programmes, and
positive legislation; nor does it do away with the need for gender units or focal points.
Current Status of Gender Equality in India

• Under the Gender Inequality Index, India is 0.617, placing it in 129th place out of total of 146
countries. The country’s score under the Global Gender Gap Index for 2011 is 0.6190; 113th out of
135 countries.

• In the rural areas, women are mainly involved as cultivators and agricultural labourers – 73% of all
women workers are employed in the agricultural sector.

• In the urban areas, almost 80% of the women workers are working in the unorganised sectors such as
household industries, petty trades and services, buildings and construction sector.

• Son preference is rampant and sex ratio at birth (i.e., the higher number of boys born relative to girls)
continues to increase in many areas in the country dowry is still widely practiced and child marriage
(although illegal) still takes place.

• Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Tests Act (to reduce sex-selective abortion) and the Child
Marriage Restraint Act continue to be ignored with relative impunity.

• A key challenge for women’s economic empowerment is the gender gap in employment outcomes.

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 KEY ISSUES & PROBLEMS

1. Social Barriers:- Indian society is changing in favour of working women but at a very slow pace.
At family level, they do not get much support from in-laws after marriage. Rather family members
have double standards for their sons and daughter-in-laws.

2. Women are discriminated for type of employment given to them also. Women are seen less
favourably in terms of knowledge, competence, skill, aptitude, interests and temperament demanded
in managerial jobs. These myths concerning competence and commitment to work continues to
influence employment decisions and adversely affect their chances of promotion also. It is said that
women are not aggressive by nature that's why not suitable for managerial jobs.

3. Less acceptability of Women Bosses:- The males who are from conservative society, hardly
accept a woman as boss, who can give them instructions or orders. A woman boss by using her
authority will certainly hurt their male ego.

4.Negative attitude of people:- The people who have a negative attitude towards working women,
attribute their success to good luck and easy jobs.

5. Negative Motivation:- Many times, women are motivated to avoid success. They are discouraged
on the grounds that if you accept a responsible position after promotion, it will create tension for
them. They also feel that its result may be social isolation and will create doubts about their
normality. e.g. Headship in University or senior post in a company, people around a female generally
discourage her to accept such responsible positions.

6.Non-Traditional Careers:- Women who choose non-traditional career, fail to receive support from
their family members as well as from society. But those who are strong and clear about their goals &
missions in life and who have self confidence tend to break all the myths. e.g. The careers like
workings of women on petrol pumps or as drivers, conductors etc.

ROLE OF HUMAN VALUES: following three values play most important role in developing helping
attitude towards any vulnerable group

1. Sympathy means acknowledging a person's emotional hardships and providing comfort and
assurance

2. Empathy means understanding what someone else is feeling because you have experienced it
yourself or can put yourself in their shoes.

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 3. Altruism means voluntary behavior that is motivated by concern for another or by internal values
and goals, not by the expectation of external rewards or punishment.

Humans should have blend of values of mind, heart and will to develop pro social behaviour.
Loving
Heart

Knowing Serving
Mind Will

Values of the mind: knowing

1. Evaluating one's own strengths and weaknesses without involving ego.
2. Learning from systematic reflection upon action within a consistent framework.
3. Perceiving and interpreting the significance of current events and trends in light of an appropriate
historical perspective.
4. Thinking systematically and strategically in search for solutions.
Values of the heart: loving
1. Imbuing one's actions and thoughts with love.
2. Encouraging others and bringing happiness in their hearts.
3. Cultivating and creating a sense of beauty in every endeavor.
4. Building unity in diversity.
Values of the will: serving
1. Transcending one's lower passions by focusing on higher purposes and capabilities.
2. Managing one's affairs and responsibilities with rectitude of conduct based on moral and ethical
principles.
3. Taking initiative in a creative and a disciplined way.
4. Sustaining effort, persevering and overcoming obstacles.

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