Elderly Challenge - Observation 2

I have observed some difficulties that an elderly face in his or her life through an observation that I have done outside my home. These photos are taken for each observation that I have made.

This should be a common sight at places where there is no space for the elderly on wheelchairs to move around conveniently and comfortably. Thus, they have to resort to travelling along the side of the road. However, this is very dangerous as they are moving on the road where there are vehicles travelling.

The elderly are always advised to take walks regularly. Hence, they are normally seen in the morning and the afternoon. In this photo, there is a park connector which most people use to do their recreational activities and to walk from one place to another. However, as observed, elderly who are wheelchair-bound face a difficulty. That is the ground is uneven at every point where the main road converge into smaller roads. Thus, whenever the wheelchair travels down a lower level, the wheelchair will jerk, causing the elderly to experience many short jerks. To make matters worse, when the wheelchair travels up a higher level, the elderly will have a hard time tilting the wheelchair to move forward, especially when the elderly is weak and do not have much strength in his or her limbs. In this photo, the elderly has a caretaker who would push down on the handles of the wheelchair to tilt the wheelchair, so that it would travel up a higher level.










Another difficulty that the elderly face is that some of the pathways are too small, thus they have to fight with other people for space to move around. Occasionally, some people are in a rush, so they would have to move out of the pathway and walk on the grass instead to overtake the crowd. The worse scenario would be during the peak hours when the working population share the pathway with the elderly. It would be very crowded.

This is a void deck of a HDB flat that has the equipments for residents to exercise. Sometimes, elderly can be found there using the equipments. However, I have observed that some of the equipments are not suitable for the elderly such as the one above. It is placed at a great height and the elderly has to stretch out her hand to reach it. This is very tiring for the elderly as she has to strain to use it. Elderly who are weak may not be able to lift up their hands to use the equipment. Another equipment that I find is unsuitable for the elderly is the one below.

For those elderly who are advance in their age and have difficulty in their mobility, they are not able to use this equipment as it requires them to move into a different position. Moreover, this equipment needs one's strength to pull the handles, hence it will be a challenge for those elderly who are weak.










This photo might not be clear, but it shows an elderly man walking his dog and pushing a baby stroller at the same time. I find that it is hard for an elderly to pick up the dog's waste as it requires the elderly to bend down. This may be tiring and strenuous for the elderly. These are some of the observations that I have made today.

In conclusion, there are many difficulties and challenges that the elderly face in their lives. We would be surprised as to how many of such difficulties and challenges an elderly has to face. Nonetheless, the elderly around us still continue to live a happy life like us. For this, they are my role models, and I have learnt to live a contented life and to persevere and endure in whatever situations we face.