Claire and Jay Rayner
October 3, 2008 16:09ByCandice Krieger, Candice Krieger
High-profile mother and son Claire and Jay Rayner have joined forces to front an older-person's campaign for Sense, a voluntary organisation that supports people who are deaf and blind or have associated disabilities.
Agony aunt and journalist Mrs Rayner and her son Jay, the Observer's restaurant critic, are spearheading The Good Life campaign. It confronts the issues of sight- and hearing-loss among elderly people, to raise awareness among GPs and show how children of older people facing such difficulties can help their parents to live a fulfilling life.
Mrs Rayner, 77, has dry macular degeneration, a form of age-related macular degeneration - the most common cause of vision loss in individuals over the age of 50. She can't see without wearing glasses and has hearing aids in both ears.
She says: "I don't go to evening parties any more. I used to go to lots of them. I started to say I was fully booked, but now I just admit that I can't hear with all the background noise.
"It's a real problem and, absolutely, deafness has had a very real effect on my social life. Now when I meet people I say I'm deaf, and it does make a real difference if, when you speak, you look in my direction."
She adds: "As we live longer, more and more people will suffer. It affects society enormously. Without support, older people will become very isolated."
Mr Rayner, 42, the youngest of Mrs Rayner's three children, tells People: "I had been a little wary of doing stuff with my ma.
"When you're in the same business, you can try and keep distance between you for career purposes, but this is a very important subject and one close to my heart. So it seemed the right time to do something.
"As adult children, your concerns about elderly parents - however redoubtable - become greater, and confronting what is happening to parents is very hard."
As part of the campaign, Sense has produced a booklet, The Good Life, which aims to raise awareness of the support available for older people and their families.
For further information, contact info@sense.org.uk or call 0845 127 0068