According to one estimate, 10 to 20 percent of residents of senior facilities and those who regularly visit senior centers have endured some form of bullying.
Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort.
Seniors are bullied in numerous structures may it be in homes, covers, emergency clinics, and so forth.
Garima Jaggi a social worker and manager at an old age home in London says, the degree of familiarity with the various kinds of harassing among seniors is less, just as the size of the issue remains lower than attractive.
“There is far less acknowledgment of bullying as an issue among seniors contrasted among youngsters. Indeed, even among the individuals who have been called bullies, many are unknown of how uncomfortable their conduct is until it’s labeled.”
Jaggi says power and control are the main characteristics involved for bullying among senior.
“In the absence of power and control issues, in persons with dementia such behavior may be an expression of frustration, or the result of communication problems, loss of impulse control, misperception of environmental threat, etc. Bullying can escalate to physical assault where dementia is present in one or both the perpetrator and victim.”
Is this how the seniors who worked all their lives are meant to be treated?
Jaggi says, there are real-life examples shares some real-life of what seniors have to go through and how they are being treated. She tells XFM.
“The youngster or even the children ask their parents,
So, now you need help with bathing?
You need help putting your shoes on or managing your medicine, or eating?
These might sound shocking but it is true.
I have seen seniors telling me their fears.
They saypeople have a feeling that the other person watches them as an inferior.
They feel left out when ignored.” Jaggi says.
She says existing investigations show around 1 out of 5 elders experience bullying but there are ways it could be prevented.
- Recognize the bullying and then trying to prevent it by raising awareness and providing support through the campaign
- encourage the seniors facing bullying of any kind to speak up and seek justice for the wrong being done to them
- Make people or organizations volunteer for the cause and donate funds to raise awareness and eliminate the problems faced by the seniors. She says.
