Centre for Policy on Ageing



Deceiving, theorizing and self-justification — a critique of independent living
Author(s)	Christine Oldman
Journal title	Critical Social Policy, vol 23, no 1, issue 74, February 2003
Pages	pp 44-62
Keywords	Housing [elderly] ; Physical disabilities ; Independence ; Social policy ; Theory.
Annotation	The concept of independent living - enabling housing to be more accessible - is questioned. The article starts with an examination of some key paradigms of later life, and uses their insights to expose the powerful and deceptive discourse of "independent living", which is described as "one of social policy's most persuasive mantras". The theoretical perspective that informs the whole article is that of postmodernism with a critical gerontology perspective. The critique of independent living that this article offers is applied within the overlapping area of housing and community care to a special case, that of physically impaired older people, in three separate but related instances: academic, policy and political. Taking a critique of independent living beyond theory into policy development may achieve a closer fit between what older people want their living environments to be and what they currently have. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-030314205 A
Classmark	KE: BN: C3: TM2: 4D
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.