Ageing-Friendly Communities For Seniors With Disabilities

As Malaysia goes from ageing to aged country, it becomes paramount to place focus on the unique needs of seniors with disabilities. This includes understanding the challenges facing seniors with disabilities, and tackling them by creating ageing-friendly communities.

What are Ageing-Friendly Communities?

Let’s talk about ageing-friendly communities. What are they and why are they important?

The World Health Organization describes ageing-friendly communities as this:

An age-friendly city encourages active ageing by optimising opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age.

Despite the fact that 1 out of 12 Malaysians are senior citizens, the majority of them live in an environment not designed for their unique needs and demands. A 2020 global study ranked 105 countries from best to worst for older adults to live in based on health care, safety and average life expectancy. Malaysia came in 37th place—behind many developing countries in Asia. 

The reality is that the elderly also face disabilities such as vision loss, hearing impairment, mobility issues and age-related medical conditions. This makes age-friendly communities all the more fundamental for the health, wellbeing and life quality of our ageing population. 

Challenges of Ageing in Seniors With Disabilities

To create a more supportive, age-friendly environment, we need to first learn what are the obstacles affecting elderly folks today. In particular, we look into three major facets: physical, psychological, and financial.

Physical challenges for disabled seniors

1. Less transportation and mobility

Firstly, older people should have the freedom of movement like everybody else via transportation and mobility. Transportation and mobility comprises safe and easy navigation, an affordable and wide range of transportation options, and accessible parking facilities. This enables them to easily navigate within their living environment and access necessities independently. 

Unfortunately, travelling is not an easy feat for the average senior citizen, much less for those with disabilities. This is due to the lack of travel options, especially for those who do not drive or live in rural areas where public transportation is scarce. Additionally, the public are less aware of the needs of the elderly and disabled persons.

2. Lower accessibility in living environments

Seniors would also require an accessible living environment, whether in home or outdoors, to age in place successfully. Accessibility not only allows elderly people to move around in spaces but also to maintain social connections. Various factors from living cost to housing features to connectivity, all influence the accessibility of an ageing adult with disabilities. 

The common accessibility issues in living spaces are long flights of stairs, narrow doorways and traditional doors that impede mobility. In public spaces, slippery floors and poorly maintained pedestrian pathways pose safety risks. Ultimately, this significantly affects their ability to participate in activities of daily living.

3. Health issues

Senior adults have a range of diverse medical and health care needs that tend to increase as they age. People with disabilities are more likely to develop other physical or mental conditions that arise prematurely as they grow older. Thus, this increases the need for better health care systems and aged care to ensure longer longevity and improved life satisfaction. 

However, Malaysia is still facing a dire shortage of healthcare professionals and geriatricians, with 20 or less trained specialists providing care to the elderly. Not to mention a geographical divide with few to no geriatrics in rural areas. Consequently, this leaves the ageing population neglected and vulnerable to multiple age-related conditions like dementia, neurodegenerative diseases and cardiovascular diseases.

Psychological challenges for disabled seniors

4. Ageism or age discrimination 

Every human being deserves the right to lead autonomous and independent lives. This right involves the ability to form opinions and make decisions for oneself in different areas of life like work, finance, relationships and health. In addition to this is equal opportunity to make a notable contribution to our society.

Ageism—a form of discrimination of age—however, robs our elderly folks of this right and this in turn affects them in more ways than one. With an increasing deterioration of health, income and support, seniors with disabilities can quickly lose hope and motivation to live. Left to themselves, this could lead to serious mental health issues such as depression and suicidal feelings.

5. Social isolation

As social beings, each of us have the need to belong and gain acceptance through family, friends, and other relationships. Participating in group or leisure activities helps keep seniors stay active and engaged. It also contributes to greater happiness and overall well-being.

Inversely, social isolation could occur when older folks are living alone or are separated from their communities. This could result in poorer mental health outcomes such as loneliness and social withdrawal.

6. Digital illiteracy 

Information and communication technologies are changing the way that we live. One would need the necessary digital skills to survive the fast digitalisation of basic services and facilities of this age. 

While elderly persons have shown interest in gaining digital literacy and using mobile devices, many lack the confidence and resources to empower them. Due to the deterioration of mental sharpness, it is also difficult for them to keep up in a generation of smartphones, cashless transactions and online shopping.

Financial challenges for disabled seniors

7. Financial issues

Growing older comes with an array of financial responsibilities and higher living expenses. Medical and healthcare, housing, transport and food are among the expenses that are becoming increasingly expensive over the years.

Even though seniors get benefits and discounts, many are unaware of the available options or fail to plan ahead. Rising cost burdens coupled with medical expenses, unexpected bills and scams can cause added stress to the elderly. As a consequence, they struggle to effectively manage finances, leaving them financially insecure.

8. Lack of employment opportunities

Older adults are seasoned professionals with years of experience and knowledge in the field. Contrary to popular belief, many elderly people are fully functioning adults that are able and willing to work. In fact, they are equipped with a wealth of knowledge to pass down to the younger generation of workers.

However, those in the ageing population aren’t given full-time or permanent work opportunities due to their conditions and advancing age. Most tend to accept this fate as they find it difficult to upskill particularly in jobs requiring technological knowledge.

Ageing-Friendly Communities To Support Seniors With Disabilities

Next, we dive into the solutions currently in place to remove the barriers and develop ageing-friendly communities in Malaysia, empowering them to age with grace and dignity. As some of these can overlap or influence each other, we look at four major aspects: Housing and building design, transportation services, community-supported services and programmes, and civic engagement opportunities.

Housing and building design

Homes, outdoor spaces and buildings are common places that senior adults visit for their daily activities. Inclusive, accessible and affordable design is important to allow older people to live safely and comfortably in their own homes, rather than moving out into retirement homes. 

This involves creating multigenerational neighbourhoods that are for everyone across all ages with:

1. Affordable senior-friendly property with bigger living areas to allow for an increased number of multigenerational occupants per residential unit and reduced living cost.
2. Home modification options for traditional homes to enable them to stay in their current place of residence. Features that accommodate the needs of seniors with disabilities such as automatic entrance doors, accessible toilets, elevators, and wider passageways to accommodate wheelchairs.
3. Location of residence and its proximity to public facilities, services and recreational areas.

Property developers are working on senior-friendly properties, allowing Malaysians to age in place. That said, there is still much work to be done in terms of operations and maintenance of senior living facilities. Caring for senior adults also requires adequate and trained staffing.

Transportation services

Well-maintained transportation infrastructure and services should cater to seniors with disabilities with a range of mobility needs. 

Some of the initiatives to aid the mobility of seniors and promote safer later lives include:

1. Discounts for senior citizens and the disabled for cheaper public transportation
2. Free transport services to ferry the elderly to healthcare facilities such as GrabResponse and The Mobiliti Association of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Other considerations that perhaps require more attention are:

1. Public awareness on public transportation etiquette that favour seniors and those with disabilities. For example, priority seating for these passengers and letting them exit first.
2. Safer driving conditions with brightly-lit streets, strategically-positioned signages, and smart traffic lights to intelligently route vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
3. Senior-friendly parking which includes wider parking spaces that are reserved for seniors and closer to entrances at facilities.
4. Door-to-door transport services for wheelchair users as well as the elderly who do not possess their own vehicles. 

Support interventions and programmes

Support interventions and programmes are created for the rehabilitation, training, and education of senior adults living with disabilities. Not only do these initiatives promote inclusivity of this group but also empowers them to live independent lives and thrive.

To name a few of the ongoing programmes by the government and community:

1. Community-Based Rehabilitation by the Disabled Development Department (JPPWD) is a programme that provides training and guidance to persons with disabilities 
2. Bengkel Teknologi Senior provides free digital literacy classes for senior citizens that will empower them to use mobile apps and protect themselves against scams and fraud
3. Upskill Malaysia is a digital platform that houses development programmes by the government for a wide range of skill areas like creative design, communication and media, law, management and so on.
4. The Budget 2022 Assistance includes funds for senior citizens under the B40 category to receive an additional assistance of RM500. For more highlights, check out this infographic here.

Technology and software developers should also enhance accessibility features in future technologies and step-by-step instructions to increase participation. After all, our seniors are not digital natives, so navigation in the digital world is not second nature to them.

Civic engagement opportunities

To ease the plight of the disabled communities, several initiatives under the Budget 2022 such as:

1. KerjayaGig programme which offers short-term employment opportunities to vulnerable unemployed individuals until they are able to obtain full-time employment.
2. MyDigitalWorkforce Work in Tech (MYWiT) which incentivises employers to hire Malaysians for digital tech and services jobs.
3. PenjanaKerjaya 3.0 Hiring Incentive which offers higher incentives to employers for hiring disabled workers.
4. Certain companies are hiring seniors as well as people with disabilities in order to provide more opportunities for these groups.

The government is ensuring one-percent employment opportunities in the public service for people with disabilities. Other than that, the government is providing a monthly incentive allowance of RM450 for disabled workers and RM300 for non-workers.

Beyond this, there needs to be a shift in mindset towards older people as well as people with disabilities to combat workplace discrimination. Perhaps the increase of life expectancy in recent years also calls for a raise in retirement age.

Join us in raising awareness about the need for ageing-friendly communities to meet the needs of our seniors with disabilities in Malaysia. Share the infographic below:

Making Senior Care More Accessible in Malaysia

As Malaysia is expected to become an aged country by 2035, we can work towards empowering these individuals to remain independent with the resources and support available in Malaysia.

At Homage, we understand that every individual has the right to live meaningful, fulfilling later lives. That is why our home care services are designed to allow you to regain confidence and help you age with grace and dignity.

Our Care Professionals undergo training to better understand, support and care for you in your condition. Speak to a Care Advisor who can offer you clarity and recommend a care package to better suit your care needs.

For more information or to schedule a call, fill the form below.