Protecting the Vulnerable (Part Two)

The first thing I recommend in protecting the elderly is to conduct a Personal Self Defense Assessment (PSDA). As for who are the “elderly,” please read the first part of our series.

PSDA

A Personal Self Defense Assessment is a process of examining a person’s physical and emotional ability to defend themselves against an attack in five areas:

1. Inside their home
2. Outside their home
3. In their neighborhood
4. In their car
5. In public places

Conducting a PSDA is something I recommend for everyone, but especially for those who are vulnerable. We are beginning this series by looking at protecting the elderly.

Some older people might want to do their own PSDA, but others might appreciate the help of family or friends. Here are some examples of questions that will help you determine an older person’s “emotional safety” (ES Score).

1. Do you feel safe inside your home? (e.g. living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, etc)
2. Do you feel safe outside your home? (e.g. front yard, back yard, side yard, front porch, patio, breezeway, garage, etc)
3. Do you feel safe in your neighborhood? (e.g. walking next door to a neighbor’s house, walking down your street, walking a few blocks away from your home, etc)
4. Do you feel safe in your car? (e.g. driving or riding in your neighborhood, driving or riding in a familiar part of your town, driving or riding in an unfamiliar part of your town, driving or riding to another city, etc)
5. Do you feel safe in public? (e.g. grocery store, drug store, gasoline station, post office, shopping center, airport, etc)

If you are a friend or family member conducting this PSDA with an older person, their answers will give you a great insight to their “feeling” of safety – also known as “emotional safety.” Older people often feel unsafe, which can cause them not to leave their homes for fear of being attacked.

This next set of questions will help you determine an older person’s “awareness safety” (AS Score).

1. Are you aware of your surroundings at home?
2. Are you aware of your surroundings in public?
3. Do you know what decreases your awareness of personal danger?
4. Do you know what increases your awareness of personal danger?

If you are a friend or family member conducting this PSDA with an older person, their answers will give you a great insight to how aware they are of situations that could cause them physical injury. Their answers will also help you determine how to help them increase their awareness. Older people are often unaware of situations that could lead to a physical attack.

This next set of questions will help you determine an older person’s “physical safety” (PS Score).

1. How well do you see? (e.g. good eyesight, poor eyesight, need glasses to see well, etc)
2. How well do you see at night? (e.g. see well at night, don’t see well at night, need a light on to find their way through their home, etc)
3. How well do you hear? (e.g. good hearing, poor hearing, need hearing aid to hear well, etc)
4. How well do you speak? (e.g. strong voice, weak voice)
5. How well could you use your speech to de-escalate a verbal altercation before it becomes physically violent? (e.g. well, not well, etc)
6. How strong are your lungs? (e.g. strong, not strong, etc)
7. How loudly can you yell? (e.g. loudly, not loudly)
8. How strong are you physically? How much weight can you lift? (e.g. strong, weak, etc)
9. How far can you throw an object? (e.g. far, not far, etc)
10. How strong is your heart? (e.g. strong, not strong, etc)
11. How flexible and agile are you? (e.g. flexible, not flexible, agile, not agile, etc)
12. How quickly can you move? (e.g. quickly, not quickly, etc)
13. What is your stamina for withstanding an attack that might last 20 to 30 seconds? (e.g. good, not good, etc)
14. How well do you walk? (e.g. walk well without assistance, need assistance to walk, use cane, use walker, in a wheel chair, etc)
15. How well do you run? (e.g. run well for long distances, run well for short distance, don’t run well, don’t run at all, etc)
16. How well can you move your body forward, backward, and to the sides to avoid an attack? (e.g. move quickly with balance, leap or jump out of the way of an attack)
17. How well could you defend yourself if someone grabbed you? (e.g. arm grab, shoulder grab .. from front, back, or side)
18. How well could you defend yourself if someone held your entire body? (e.g. from front, back, or side)
19. How well could you defend yourself from a mugger’s hold? (e.g. attack from back, arm around neck, pulling backwards)
20. How well could you defend yourself if someone pushed you? (e.g. from front, back, or side)
21. How well could you defend yourself if someone pulled you? (e.g. from front, back, or side)
22. How well can you protect yourself from serious injury if you fall while being pushed or pulled? (e.g. forward fall, backward fall, side fall, rolling fall, etc)
23. How well could you defend yourself if someone choked you? (e.g. from front, back, or side)
24. How well could you defend yourself if someone tried to hit you? (e.g. from front, back, or side)
25. How well could you defend yourself if someone approached you with a weapon? (e.g. stick, knife, gun … from front, back, or side)
26. Have you ever taken self-defense lessons? If so, for how long? What do you remember from what you learned? Would you be willing to take more lessons now that you’re older?
27. If you never took self-defense lessons, would you be willing to that if you saw how it could help you become more confident and skilled in defending yourself effectively and efficiently?
28. Are you willing to use physical force to protect yourself against an attack, if necessary? (e.g. using hands, elbows, knees, and feet, etc)
29. Are you willing to use a weapon to protect yourself against an attack? (e.g. striking an attacker with a cane or other object .. causing the attacker pain and possible injury)
30. Do you know where to strike an attacker to end an attack quickly? (e.g. targeting eyes, throat, groin, top of foot, top of hand, etc. will end an attack more quickly than targeting larger parts of the body) Are you willing to target those areas of an attacker’s body in order to protect yourself?

If you are a friend or family member conducting this PSDA with an older person, their answers will give you a great insight to their ability to defend themselves against a physical attack – also known as “physical safety” – and their willingness to learn self defense and use a forceful response when necessary. Older people often lack physical skills necessary to defend themselves against a physical attack, so self-defense classes focusing on their special needs can help them. Most older people don’t want to hurt other people, so self-defense training can help them understand the need for using force to protect themselves.

Once you know the emotional, awareness, and physical safety scores of a friend or loved one, you will be able to help them develop the skills necessary to be safe at home and in public.

Next Time

In the next part of our series we’ll look at some of the types of emotional, awareness, and physical training we can share with older people to help them protect themselves against personal attacks.

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