Sir, – I read with interest Keith Duggan’s article titled “Confronting the power of dementia” (News Review, September 16th) which was a very good piece overall.
In the second last paragraph, however, the writer mentions the redefining of “the physical possibilities of people in their 60s, 70s and 80s”. All too often, people mention 80s as the ceiling of older age; why are people in their 90s (and older) invisible or rarely mentioned?
My mother is 97 years of age (98 in January) and is in good health. A mother of 10 who retired from paid employment at 80, Mum has always lived a healthy, active, busy life and has maintained a positive attitude to ageing.
For sure, Mum is not as physically active or independent as she was when she was 80 but she is fortunate to be still very much engaged in “living”, not merely existing, getting out and about as much as she can and using public transport since she stopped driving at 90 years of age.
Among other things, Mum attends U3A events, the University of the Third Age, an international movement whose aims are the education and stimulation of mainly retired members of the community.
She keeps up with the family interest in professional bike racing by watching events like the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France on Eurosport on her iPad, and she communicates with family and friends on her iPhone.
At 97, my mother is still living independently in her own home in Dublin with the support of a carer.
She is not unique; there are many – more than 600 in number I believe – people in their 90s and some beyond 100 living in Ireland today.
I don’t mean to be sharp but please acknowledge their existence in future articles.
Apart from anything else, without wishing to “generalise”, the needs of people in their 90s and older are different from those in their 80s and should be acknowledged, highlighted and met by society. – Yours, etc,
ANN HIGGINSON,
Co Galway.