AGE has worked with an Early Stage Researcher to produce a policy report which critically analyses the EU Green Paper on Ageing from a disability rights perspective. The report also explores links between this initiative and the EU Disability Rights Strategy to fulfil the rights of older persons with disabilities. Ms Ainsley McLean is PhD student involved in the Disability Advocacy Research in Europe (DARE) training network. She prepared this report during her secondment with AGE.
Main findings of the report
This report explains that currently the Green paper on ageing and the Disability Rights Strategy operate in silos. The Green Paper is guided mainly by fiscal considerations, which are the starting point for policy actions. It therefore cannot be perceived as a rights-based document. Although there is a brief mention of meeting the health and long-term care needs of an ageing population, the paper does not explicitly expand on these notions beyond a short recognition of dignity and right to choose as general well-being principles. It is, therefore, recommended that the Green Paper cannot stand alone. It needs to be read in conjunction with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) to fully realize Article 19 of the UNCRPD. Further, while the EU Disability Rights Strategy is rights-based, it still lacks specificity to older persons especially when it comes to autonomy, independence, individual support and community support. Therefore, the implementation of the disability rights strategy needs to be more specific to the challenges faced by older persons with disabilities. The report concludes that the implementation of the Green Paper and the Disability Rights Strategy should be embedded with an increased understanding of ageing and disability based on the human rights principles of the UNCRPD.
About DARE
DARE (Disability Advocacy Research in Europe) is a European-wide training network for early-stage researchers in the field of disability rights.The project aims ‘to equip a new generation of researchers to respond to global challenges facing persons with disabilities and policy makers. Its goal is to give legitimacy, through research, to the lived experience of persons with disabilities, as a basis for law reform.”
DARE is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Sklodowska-Currie grant agreement No 814249
