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Human and Civil Rights of Older People

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

  • 26 Accesses

Synonyms

Aged; Elderly; Universal rights

Definitions and Historical Perspective

Older people with mental illness are among the most vulnerable in the community, due in part to discrimination, stigma, and denial of their basic rights. Equally people with cognitive impairment due to dementia or other neurological disorders are particularly at risk of having rights denied either unwittingly or consciously by their “carers.” Protection of the most vulnerable is acknowledged as a central tenet of human rights, and older people can be greatly supported by a human rights approach (Australian Human Rights Commission 2012; Broderick 2010).

Human rights are rights that everyone is entitled to regardless of their age, citizenship, nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, language, abilities, or any other status (International 2010a, b). These were first promulgated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948, which has since been recognized as customary law binding in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Catholic University and Villa Maria Catholic Homes, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Colleen Doyle & Gail Roberts

  2. National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Colleen Doyle

Authors
  1. Colleen Doyle
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  2. Gail Roberts
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Colleen Doyle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

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Doyle, C., Roberts, G. (2017). Human and Civil Rights of Older People. In: Pachana, N.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-082-7_293

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