Socijalna politika i kvaliteta života starijih osoba s tjelesnim invaliditetom.

The paper presents the research the aims of which were to analyse some aspects of the quality of life of elderly persons with physical disability and the connection with social policy. The aspects of quality of life related to: socio-economic indicators, coping with everyday life and mobility, formal and informal forms of social support and subjective sources of strength. The aim was to determine whether the aforementioned aspects of the quality of life of elderly age group differ from those of the younger age group of disabled persons. The sample consisted of 480 disabled persons, out of which 105 persons were older than 65. The research was conducted by the Croatian Association of Disabled Persons in March, 2003. The data was obtained throughout Croatia via semi-structured survey. The results have shown that elderly disabled persons enjoy a favourable housing situation and that their housing is partly adjusted to their needs. Their financial situation is poor, they have to use orthopaedic aids, the environment is inaccessible to them, they rarely use their rights due to the lack of information about them, and they most frequently get informed through the media. Their social network is small, mostly including their children and spouses. The sources of formal support (professionals from Social Welfare Centres, the government representatives and politicians) are inadequate. In general, the assessment of their quality of life is lower than those of younger disabled persons. Such results point out that there is a need to provide a better care and support by the community for the persons with physical disability, and emphasise the importance of social inclusion in order to improve their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]