Envelhecer na colônia: uma história de dor e superação

• Autor(a) principal: Quintão, Sandra Maria Jannotti
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da PUC_SP
• Texto Completo: https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/12448
• topic: Hanseníase; Colônia; Envelhecimento; Envelhecer; Gerontologia Social; Leprosy; Colony; Aging; Get old; Social Gerontology; CNPQ::CIENCIAS SOCIAIS APLICADAS::SERVICO SOCIAL

The social imaginary old age is thought as an economic burden, both the family and for society, what has led the world to subtract from the elderly the role of thinking their own destiny. Then we must ask, how is the situation of the elderly that in the past have been affected by leprosy? Disabling disease known for its stigma and segregation, which evolution, if not treated properly, brings neurological and motor sequel, considered nowadays a serious public health problem in developing countries. The person who had suspected leprosy was hunted by the Health Guard and compulsorily isolated in a hospital-colony, at that time known as leprosarium. In the condition of residents, they have aged there, isolated from their descendants and the outside world, with important psychosocial consequences, such as difficulties in accessing the labor market, loss of civil, social and political rights and the prejudice of disease marks all over the body. As a strategy, to face this situation, many of these individuals metamorphosed their identities, assuming a new social identity, for being affected with leprosy. However, it was observed that for many of them, going to Colony was a salvation, once that they were sick and had the poverty installed in their lives, surely they would not have survived the disease, which somehow contributed to generate a great sense of belonging to Colony, enabling the rescue of citizenship lost long ago. Therefore, it was possible to write their life stories and defining a place in the world, turning the fragility of the disease in potentiality in order to create new ways of living. This study aims to understand the meaning of getting old inside a former colony of leprosy and it is justified by the need to carry out a survey about the feelings of elderly, still institutionalized or residents nearby the former colony, who carry a suffered past because of the leprosy. It has as a scenery the House Health Father Damien, in the municipality of Uba (MG), where it was possible recounting the lives of an elderly people group who have suffered at some point in their lives, the marks of leprosy. This is a descriptive study and it is expected that the results contribute to support the public bodies in building policies aimed to people over 60 years old, who have experienced the process of compulsory isolation by having contracted leprosy, but also encourage new studies in searching for a more holistic treatment