Negative positioning of 'dementia' in an environment of competition for resources

In social environments driven by self-interest and individualism, people experiencing dementia must compete with others for access to public health resources, legal protection and financial security. Within such societies the marginalisation of older people and ageism is crucial to the unequal allocation of resources. It is one determining factor in how those with power use competing interests, exploiting some people’s disadvantage to their own benefit. Strategies for accumulating power, wealth and control include negative positioning, misinformation and coercion, all enabled by normalised ageist thinking within families, community and society. This is a form of abuse. It coalesces with domestic violence and child abuse as the third piece of a triptych of abuses occurring within or impacting on trust relationships. Nowhere are these dynamics more evident than in the context of dementia.

© 2019 selection and editorial matter, Gaynor Macdonald and Jane Mears; individual chapters, the contributors.