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“You go from being a fit individual and travelling the world to a completely sedentary position. It's life changing."
Before retiring, Paul had owned a travel company, which especially thrived in the 70s and 80s at the start of major overseas travel. But here he shares with us how his lifestyle has changed.
“Now I’m retired and I’m very much a family man. [But after retirement] I experienced issues with my health so a lot of things I enjoyed doing sort of took a back seat. I also suffer with diabetes and have since had a leg amputation. Getting old is one thing but getting old and disabled is another challenge in itself. You go from being a fit individual and travelling the world to a completely sedentary. It is lifechanging.
“I once had a really bad experience in public. I was in the wheelchair being pushed by my wife and was harassed by a man. I was unsure if he was drunk or whatever, but he told me I was a strain on society and better off not being here.
“However, my worst encounter with ageism was when I was recovering in hospital from sepsis – I was looking forward to having a mobility scooter provided to regain my independence. Unfortunately, the Motability scheme is only available on PIP (personal independence payment) and if you are over state retirement age you don’t qualify for it, you instead only get an allowance where there is no separate help for mobility.
“It’s also worth noting that those who did qualify for the Motability scheme, due to them losing their mobility pre state retirement age, are able to keep the benefit for life – which is very unfair for older people. If I lost my leg age 65 and was still working, I would have had more support but because I was 68, I didn’t get it.
“My disability came out of the blue – I developed Sepsis after getting a blister from a new pair of shoes and lost my leg to the condition in under two weeks. It’s almost as if you don’t deserve to have a right to your independence if you’re not working - it’s a very ageist scheme.
“I would like to see more respect given to older people in our society, for example in other cultures older people are treated with way more respect than in the UK. Here, age is looked at in a different way – you become a burden.
However, it is really easy to be subconsciously ageist, when I was in my 20s I thought that people in their 40s were ancient and didn’t really try to include them in things. People have changed their outlook towards things like sexuality, race, and religion – hopefully the same will happen for age.
“We need more inclusivity for older people - making them more visible, making policy changes to accommodate them. I don’t think the government currently has any interest in supporting older people – they just want our vote. I personally think government sees us as a strain on society as we are no longer working but this is not true. Older people are still valuable, and our voices deserve to be heard.”
