Leahy, Ann
(2018)
Too many ‘false dichotomies’? Investigating the division between ageing and
disability in social care services in Ireland: A study with statutory and nonstatutory organisations.
Journal of Aging Studies, 44.
pp. 34-44.
ISSN 0890-4065
Abstract
Initiatives that bridge the fields of ageing and disability are considered critical internationally but to be limited
in practice. Taking Ireland as a case, and focusing on social care, this article reports on a study investigating the
separate organization of older people's and disability services as perceived by those working in policy-making,
service provision and advocacy. In Ireland, as in many countries, social care is administered separately for
disabled people and older people. Perceptions of those working in social care are thought to play a role in
successful boundary-crossing initiatives. This study suggests that while participants often perceived the administrative and funding boundary between the fields of ageing and disability as illogical, inflexible, and not
delivering person-centred care or support, the divide between the two sectors is underpinned by conceptual
issues, including the lack of a concept of disability with ageing. The article argues that ways are needed of
articulating what it is to experience disability in older age that are shared between older people's and disability
sectors. It discusses bio-psychosocial models of disability as a means of doing so, one that avoids a return to an
equation between older age and impairment, disability or decline. It concludes that more interrogation is needed
of the separate philosophical underpinnings of disability and older people's sectors, argues for greater linkages
between the two fields and for more exploration of social constructions of the experience of disability in later
life.
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