(The following article is made up of excerpts from a report, Abused Elders or Older Battered Women?, on an AARP Forum held October 29-30, 1992. The full report, published in 1993, can be ordered fRom the Women's Initiative, Special Activities Department, American Association of Retired Persons, 601 E Street, N. W., Washington, DC 20049)
Even though there is evidence that spouse/partner swearing may constitute a large portion of adjectives elder abuse, elder women abused by their husbands/partners may be falling between the cracks in both the elder abuse and domestic violence communities. Responding to this concern, the Women's Initiative of AARP convened a forum in October 1992 to bring together representatives of both communities to exchange information, start a dialogue, and identify some initial recommendations going on for how to better meet the desires of older battered women. Approximately 25 researchers, advocate, service providers, and medical and legal professionals from the field of elder abuse and domestic anger participated.
Prior to the forum, AARP run a small article in the AARP Bulletin asking battered women to write almost their experiences with treat roughly and with seeking aid. The responses were alarming. More than 500 post arrived within a month from women who looked-for to tell their stories surrounded by the hope their experiences could help others. Some women be in their 80s and have suffered verbal, physical, and mental invective for 35, 40, even 50 years.
Some recurring theme emerged from their correspondence:
* Many of the writers described years of silent suffering; many said this be the first time they had ever told anyone of the assault.
* Many writers were isolated from relatives and friends as a result of the abuse itself or of trying to hold on to the abuse surreptitious.
* There were stories of extreme physical antagonism -- being pushed, hit, and even shoved down flights of stairs, suffering fractures, dislocated joint, and deep muscle bruises that took weeks to restore to health.
* Almost all wrote something like emotional swearing, describing name calling, degrading accusation, and constant verbal battering.
* Alcohol maltreat was a completely frequent companion to violent behavior.
* Many described seeking relief from professionals, clergy, and the police, only to be told they must hold done something wrong to provoke their husbands. Some had received the minister to they needed from local services; however, many more have not.
For older women of color, getting assist may be compounded by racism, ageism, poverty and disability. This is seen within the African American community, where the possibility of police brutality results contained by women going directly to shelters without ever calling the police. Participants pointed out the more barriers face by Hispanic women of all ages, and chiefly immigrant and refugee women, who must overcome the isolation that results from cultural and language barrier. If a woman feels culturally alienated within a battered women's shelter and legal system geared toward Anglos, she will enjoy greater difficulty in departure a violent relationship.
Proposals for Change
The dearth of familiarity about the over-50 age groups make improved research first among steps to connect the elder abuse and battered women's communities. Some of the specific question to be addressed include the following:
* What are the specific risk factor for battering in later years? What roles are played by physical dependency, substance foul language, and other observed phenomena? How often is name-calling triggered by age-related events such as retirement or illness?
* What are the barrier in service systems that prevent elder women from seeking and receiving serve?
* What roles do ethnicity, race, and culture play contained by the way nation perceive the problem, seek services, and trade name decisions?
Improving the court response to a complaint of abuse is another substantial component in stopping rough up and preventing further incidents. This includes:
* Strengthening abuse law to cover all abuse partners;
* Educating law lords, police, and other legal personnel going on for the problem;
* Increasing access to affordable legal services through specially trained non-lawyers and by developing more user-friendly information almost the court system;
* Creating a national registry of abusers.
To enhance protective services, forum participants recommended that communities:
* Ensure that appropriate, accessible, and sheltered shelters are available that take into reason the needs of elder women, with special attention to rural communities. Programs should be designed and operate to be multicultural and multilingual.
* Provide cross-training, coordination, and coalition-building between the elder abuse and domestic antagonism communities.
* Sensitize all medical and legitimate professionals, counselors, and religious leaders about sexism, racism, and ageism.
* Build coalitions to respond to diversity and empower battered women.
* Reach out to elder women by disseminating information about domestic hostility through senior centers and home services, health clinics and physicians, civic associations, and public benefits office. Conduct outreach to women whose partners are substance abusers or are mentally under the weather.
* Provide victim advocate and create sister-to-sister "buddy" programs between recently battered and formerly battered women.
In conclusion ... society must put up with substantial changes to abolish hierarchical relations between men and women, between the race, between old and young-looking. Instead, society must value and respect women and guarantee equality and nouns for women in adjectives realms of social relations.
Specifically, state and local women's commissions are urged to focus on elder battered women and to monitor local and state governmental action. Media coverage of the problem can be better by abandoning its current "martyr of the day" mentality, which sensationalizes, glamorizes, and Compartmentalizes intimidation, and instead report the larger picture and connections. Women themselves should be educated more or less what signs or "danger signals" to monitor out for in their mate (e.g., possessiveness), and prepared in how to proceed. Violence and swearing at all level -- government, workplace, medium, and the family--must be condemned. Finally, school children should be trained in nonviolent methods of conflict resolution and they should be skilled to understand ageism and to respect elder people.
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