Rantzen plea over elderly isolation on visit to Scotland
Broadcaster Esther Rantzen has called for society to place more value on older people.
She described senior citizens as “our national treasure” as she promoted the work of the Silver Line charity which she founded.
The organisation aims to offer friendly voices, round the clock, to people who may be suffering in silence from loneliness.
Rantzen, most famous for presenting the TV show That’s Life!, spoke out during a visit to the Scottish Parliament.
Many of the charity’s callers feel they have become a waste of space, she told the cross-party group on older people, age and ageing.
“I think it behoves all of us to do two things: to validate the experiences, the contribution, the real value older people have in our society,” she said.
“They are our national treasure, they are our resource – not just a series of problems.”
Media reports about older people should not be treated as “graphs of doom”, she said.
“Have a look at the number of volunteers of 65-plus who keep our society going,” she added.
“Please do everything you can to lift the self-esteem of the older population.”
Rantzen founded Silver Line after writing a feature about her experience of loneliness two years ago.
The charity says more than half of 75-year-olds in the UK live alone and one in 10 suffers “intense” loneliness but is reluctant to ask for help.
Rantzen, who is 73, challenged people to tackle the stigma of loneliness.
“I know about that because I wrote about my own loneliness and I have come to the conclusion that loneliness, which absolutely is not the same as isolation, is in my view associated with loss,” she said.
“It can be loss of a partner, it can be loss of a job, it can be loss of sense, sight or hearing, it can be loss of a driving licence, it can be loss of mobility.
“But what it does, it draws in the horizons of your life and your front door becomes a barrier that becomes more and more difficult to cross because w hat it erodes is self-esteem and confidence.”
