Are older deafblind people being left behind? A narrative review of literature on deafblindness through the lens of the United Nations Principles for Older People

Simcock, Peter and Wittich, Walter (2019) Are older deafblind people being left behind? A narrative review of literature on deafblindness through the lens of the United Nations Principles for Older People. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 41 (3). pp. 339-357. ISSN 0964-9069

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Abstract

Underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRDP), Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the international goal to ‘leave no one behind’. However, the World Federation of the Deafblind have argued that deafblind people have been excluded from international welfare and disability development programmes. Despite making up the majority of the deafblind population, it appears that older deafblind people are particularly invisible. This paper builds on the work of Overbury et al. (2005), who translated the UN Principles for Older Persons into the language of older visually impaired adults, by using them here as the lens for a narrative review of the literature on older deafblind people. It argues that existing research demonstrates that older deafblind people are not only being ‘left behind’ in benefiting from implementation of the UN Principles, but also that the focus of the UN Principles themselves risks maintaining or enhancing their exclusion. Further research and policy development with older deafblind people is required to ensure that international and national social welfare policies and provision are not nugatory to the older deafblind population.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2019.1627088
Dates:
DateEvent
13 December 2018Accepted
12 June 2019Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords: deafblind; dual sensory loss; older people; UN Principles for Older Persons; exclusion
Subjects: CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-03 - social policy
CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-04 - health and social care > CAH15-04-01 - social work
CAH16 - law > CAH16-01 - law > CAH16-01-01 - law
Divisions: Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > School of Education and Social Work
Depositing User: Peter Simcock
Date Deposited: 20 Dec 2018 09:20
Last Modified: 03 Mar 2022 15:54
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6738

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