Know Thy Rights: A Call to Elder Justice Advocates

The Elder Justice Act of 2010 was an important milestone in acknowledging elders as rights-holders entitled to protections against abuse and neglect. But we in the elder justice field need to go further to acknowledge and protect the rights of special categories of elders, including nursing home residents, consumers of long term services and supports, older crime victims, incarcerated elders, adults with dementia and other disabilities, and members of other protected classes (BIPOC, LGBTQ, veterans). This will require us to educate ourselves and our networks about a whole host of rights, including consumers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, crime victims' rights, disability rights, and the rights of residents of nursing homes and prisons. I've been encouraging multidisciplinary teams and coalitions to expand their memberships to include rights-focused attorneys and advocates and to develop partnerships with far-ranging rights organizations and support their work. Now, more than ever, we need to work collectively to protect the rights of all Americans.