To think the Covid 19 crisis has revealed a scourge of ableism and ageism in our society?

[Madhairday]

I see it on every thread about lockdown. The elderly (over 60s) and vulnerable (of whatever age) are again and again dehumanised and cast as less worthy of help than the young and the fit, who should be prioritised because they have longer and healthier life left before them. Phrases like one I saw just now about how these people will die soon anyway so why are children suffering?

I am really tired of being othered. I am really tired of being made the reason for the suffering endured by many in lockdown. Really tired of being told I should be grateful others are suffering for me. Just really tired.

Before all this I'd never have dreamed these attitudes would come to light, but in the past months I've been repeatedly punched in the gut with some of the words thrown out against the aged and the disabled and chronically ill. It seems that we truly live in a world where not all lives are equal, where in fact many are worth less than others.

Lots of people are suffering due to lockdown and the effects will continue to cause suffering. The shielded know this and are affected by it as much as everyone else. I have lost my income as well as not being able to touch another human being for nearly 3 months. Many of my shielded friends mental health is shot, too, yet on threads about mental health the shielded are yet again othered and in fact blamed for the mental health issues of those not shielding.

Many are suffering in lockdown. We know this. We know the NHS has cut off much treatment (largely because the spread of covid in hospitals is so uncontainable that they cannot risk bringing already vulnerable people onto wards as covid would exacerbate conditions and kill in greater numbers, as well as the risk for frontline staff, yet many people here seem to think the NHS has narrowed down 'because only covid deaths are important to them' )

I am deeply concerned at the level of ableism and ageism I see on here every single day at the moment. If we said someone else's life mattered less because they were black or gay we would rightly be torn to pieces, but so many are saying lives are less due to age and vulnerability, and this is going unchallenged, again and again and again.

I see it. I see it every day. I feel it deep down, a sense of worthlessness because I have long term chronic illnesses. I am likely to live many more years, however, but that doesn't fit in with the narrative so many have built around the shielded and those dying of Covid, that they must be near death anyway.

Do lives really rank one over the other due to age and illness? Is this where we are now?

I agree lockdown is hurting people. I am not one of the lockdown should last forever people. I'm just getting on with shielding quietly and carefully. But I do fear for a second wave if it's relaxed too quickly.

I would like to ask for some compassion today in the way people speak. I'd like to ask that people don't denegrate others as less worthy or state that covid is just a bad cold. Have a care for those who feel othered and dehumanised by the rhetoric that flies at us day after day.

To the extent it's not fixable, that predates Covid 19. Mental health provision for young people in the public system is appalling.

But can young people, in general, recover from adversity, particularly if they are supported to do so? Yes.

I have young adult children. One just finished university. Her prospects are sound. Her graduate job start has been deferred but will go ahead six months late. In the meantime she’s secured an online internship.
Her life has changed, she’s sad there is no end of university celebration but it’s hardly destroyed her life.

Youngsters can do what we did and what children the world over do, be a bit bored then find something constructive to do. If we continually tell them how hard their life is, they’ll end us believing us.

If they’re that bored and in need of money there are places recruiting. Not ideal long term but will tide them over until everything picks up again.

melia I agree mental health provision is appalling. My dd has really bad anxiety and low self esteem. I suspect autistic pDA and us under CAHMS but the support she received from the first therapist was terrible. Finally she has a new therapist who I think has got to the bottom of the problem. but treatment has stopped as she can't handle phons calls.
Autism assesments also stopped too.
Do I blame Lockdown or Lockdown enthusiasts? No
Do I blame baby boomers? No
Do I blame the way the Govt handled the situation and the underfunding in the whole of the healthcare system? Yes

We were abandoned in between therapists btw.

Yes I think we do our young adults down if we insist this will ruin their lives. They are much more creative and adaptable than that. My 16 year old DS has missed his GCSEs and end of y11 stuff and is sad about it but he is getting on with a level work and earning some money doing coding gigs online and is teaching himself drums. He doesn't think his future has been ripped from him, he does get bored and fed up but in general he's fine. 19 year old DD misses uni and friends dreadfully but is working hard on online stuff and while worrying about recession is still out there ready to grab her future. Young people don't have to be destroyed by this but a creeping culture of entitlement dictates that they must be because they are missing out on usual life stuff - stuff that they are privileged enough to have living in a rich western country as it is.

Of course many are sadly suffering from MH issues but as pp said the biggest problem with that is the shockingly poor provision which has been scaled down to the bone in the last ten years. Lockdown will exacerbate it for many but the lack of provision means they will be let down far more than they might have been without austerity.

That’s you and your children, my daughter is pretty stable and will come out of this fine but we are talking about millions of young people, each with different circumstances, facing a massive challenge. I’m worried society is starting to break down, this is going to get much worse, the elderly and vulnerable will not be taken care of if that happens, then it will be the fittest survive. Seriously is nobody else worried our way of life is completely changing and not for the better?

I agree on the tone of many posts on here. "Other" people.
It's vile.

Mental.health support has been appalling for many years though ,the mental health trust I worked for started cutting its services at the back end of the 90,s just as Labour got in.

It is tough on the young but they are not living through a war at the minute. They will be fine. Resiliance is key and can be learned through tough times. I suffer from mh issues so am aware this is easier said than done.

My teen son has done very poorly mental health wise over the last few months, mostly due to the social restrictions.

It's fixable. Whereas if his immuno-compromised parent had become seriously unwell, or died as a result of coronavirus?
That's not fixable.

For some young people it hasn't been fixable though.

I hope they will be fine, a lot of young angry adults with nothing to do, with very small job prospects, not being able to earn money, can’t pay their bills, it’s a recipe for disaster.

That sounds really tough, Northernsoulgirl45

For some young people it hasn't been fixable though

Are you referring to youth suicide? That was a big concern of mine, but it seems in several places around the world, suicide rates have decreased. Hoping it holds more generally.

Personally I don't know how (overall) anyone can think that. Look at the enormous lengths and costs the world is going to protect our old and vulnerable. Covid largely (I know not solely) affects older people, huge numbers of people will be very, very badly damaged by the lockdown, lockdown itself will cause deaths, we know this, and have decided, on the whole, it's worth it to try to save our elderly and vulnerable.

It is tough on the young but they are not living through a war at the minute

War is a very dangerous situation but this is very different and is about isolation. Whenever you see footage of children in ww2 England, they're together. When you see children in refugee camps on the news, they're often playing together. I'm not saying its preferable but you're comparing chalk and cheese. Human interaction is not an added bonus to life, it's absolutely crucial. You could theoretically keep a child safe in an empty mansion surrounded by luxury but alone...that child would probably be more miserable and unhappy than a child growing up poor but surrounded by love and friends.

Alex50

Agree the social contact is being broken. The young feel they are being sacrificed and see no future for themselves. They are told they are selfish when the ask for stuff like school or playgrounds that previous generations have had. The resentment this will cause may lead to much worse than the effects of covid.

And on a global scale the younger and healthier members of society have accepted restrictions on their day to day lives that have no direct benefit to them and in fact cause harm because they believe that doing so will protect the elderly and the vulnerable. They should have this sacrifice acknowledged not be told they are ableist.

@x2boys love the shoe in about labour when were they in power
exactly ? Didn't know austerity was a labour thing ...

formerbabe You’re suggesting this situation is worse than war for children because their interaction with other children has been restricted for a few weeks? I’m sorry. That is peak ridiculous.

Yeah that's exactly what I meant..that's why I said...

I'm not saying its preferable but you're comparing chalk and cheese

I'm making the point that even in the worst situations imaginable...interaction with other humans is really crucial. I don't want to see an entire generation plugged into screens devoid of human contact.

Oh and my ds is bloody miserable at the thought of another day sitting on his laptop doing school work and not seeing his friends. Quite honestly, if you gave him a tin can to kick round on a piece of wasteland with his mates, he'd probably be happy.

But isn't exactly the opposite true OP. There will always be people who are unhappy with whatever is happening, not just to do with Covid, you only have to look at Brexit to see how divided the UK is on opinions. So I don't think it's important or all that relevant to simply be upset because you have seen some posts that you disagree with and don't like. But the reason there are these posts for you to see in the first place is because people are speaking up for their children when their children have been left behind. Simply put, the fact is that the country has been grounded to a halt to protect only a small percentage of the population and the welfare of children has undeniably been sacrificed in order to do that. So you can be upset that you see people are not happy with the policies as they are all you like but the reason there are such mindsets in the first place is what the actual stance being held in this country at this present time is that children and their well-being is less important than that of the elderly and the vulnerable.

*Agree the social contact is being broken. The young feel they are being sacrificed and see no future for themselves. They are told they are selfish when the ask for stuff like school or playgrounds that previous generations have had. The resentment this will cause may lead to much worse than the effects of covid.

This is so out of proportion. You’ll get your playgrounds back. They’re just a bit of a germ risk right now, like pools. But the same as other countries have done, facilities will be returned in a stepped way. Be patient, not over-Orwellian.

If the UK had had a more effective government, possibly the young could have their schools and playgrounds by now.

Other children around the globe do, and they also experience short, sharp lockdowns, along with the kind of border control, testing and contract tracing to make it work.

Children will have playgrounds and schools in the UK again. They have not disappeared forever.

The argument that lockdown happened to protect the "old and the sick" makes absolutely no sense and if posters like Xenia actually engaged their brains they would see how stupid it is.

All government needed to do was to shield the old and the sick and let everyone else carry on life as normal if that was the reason lockdown happened. So.why didn't they do that then?

Maybe because that wasn't why we entered lockdown, for the hard of thinking on these boards!!!!

And on a global scale the younger and healthier members of society have accepted restrictions on their day to day lives that have no direct benefit to them and in fact cause harm because they believe that doing so will protect the elderly and the vulnerable. They should have this sacrifice acknowledged not be told they are ableist.

And, they will also be made to pick up the tab just like they had to during the financial crisis while pensioners incomes continued to increase.

Yes, and that’s ridiculous, formerbabe. Obviously it hasn’t been great that kids haven’t been able to interact directly for a couple of months. They can now, though, can’t they, in small groups?

I understand it’s difficult being isolated at home. I was for an entire year as a teenager (before the Internet!). Kids are generally adaptive, though, particularly if you are positive too.