Asian and black elders and community care: A survey of care providers

Abstract

Abstract For the increasing number of Asian and black people who are in the older age groups, a factor in multiple disadvantage is marginalisation in community care planning and provision. Asian and black elders are regarded as numerically insignificant, and the stereotype that Asian and black communities have a special capacity to ‘look after their own’ facilitates an expectation that they will make up for deficits in health and social services provision. This article reports on a survey of care providers’ perspectives on the implications of community care policy for Asian and black elders in Bradford. The main lines of argument are that whilst in theory the policy opens up possibilities for ethnic minorities, these can only be realised if it is recognised how problematic the stereotypical expectation is, and that pressures on Asian and black carers and the limitations of the ethnic minority voluntary sector must also be recognised.