Some serious stuff!

Were you aware that June 15th was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day?

I didn't. In fact I'd never heard of such a Day, until I read about it in one of our Seniors newspapers this morning. I asked a number of my "older" friends and they gave me a look of astonishment. It seems hardly anyone I know even knows about it.

The terrible fact of the matter is that elder abuse continues to be a persistent and yet under-recognised issue affecting our country's most vulnerable people. Financial, psychological and emotional abuses are the most common forms of abuse against older people in Australia.

And a more shocking fact if that the majority of cases, the abuse is perpetrated by family members. These are the people who elderly Australians are most dependent upon and yet are powerless to resist or fight.

Elder abuse is insidious and often follows abusive behaviour such as emotional bullying and blackmail. Such as putting pressure on an elderly parent to sell his/her home or threatening to isolate an elderly parent by withdrawing contact with grand-children. And so on.

A recent study found that the average age of victims is around 80 years and many are more vulnerable because of dementia. Financial elder abuse confirmed that signature forgery, credit card misuse, misappropriation of pension funds, transferring of house titles and persuading an older person to change their will or insurance policy, was more likely to be carried out by their children than people they didn't know.

If you live in Australia then visit www.seniorsrights.org.au) - if overseas look up your Seniors Rights website and get as much information as you can, particularly if you feel you are experiencing abuse or if you want to seek help for someone else.