This scenario-based quiz helps students apply AQA A Level Sociology ideas about age, disability and poverty to one realistic example. As students work through the questions, they are asked to connect the scenario to key concepts such as child poverty, grey panthers, differences between wealth and income in old age, access to employment, discrimination and ableism, the level of welfare benefits, the impact of austerity policies on disability, and disability and social exclusion.
The activity also encourages students to think sociologically about how disadvantages can overlap. Rather than treating age or disability as separate issues, it highlights the intersections of class, ethnicity, age and disability, showing how poverty can deepen when several forms of inequality combine. It draws on research commonly used in this area, including Hirsch, the Child Poverty Action Group, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Palmer and Slorach, helping students move beyond simple description and towards stronger sociological explanation.
Age, Disability and Poverty: Scenario-Based MCQ Quiz
This activity uses one fictional scenario to help students apply ideas about child poverty, old-age poverty, disability and social exclusion, and the way age and disability overlap with wider inequalities.
Scenario: Leah is 38 and lives with her two children aged 6 and 13 in a rented flat. Her youngest child, Noah, has a disability and needs regular hospital appointments, extra transport costs and support with daily routines. Leah used to work more hours, but now works part time because of caring responsibilities. She says that after rent, food and heating there is very little left at the end of the month.
Leah’s father, Dennis, is 74 and lives alone. He owns very little beyond basic savings and relies mainly on his pension. Rising energy costs have forced him to cut back on heating and social activities. Leah says that while some older people own homes and have built up wealth, others have low incomes and very limited assets in old age.
A local disability rights group argues that low benefit levels, cuts linked to austerity and discrimination in employment push disabled people and their families further into poverty. A newspaper columnist disagrees and claims that generous welfare discourages people from working. Another campaign group points out that child poverty is especially severe where disability, low pay and high living costs overlap.
Further material on Work Poverty and Welfare can be found by clicking the link below:
Leave a Reply