On a cold December evening in Greenock, Scotland, a scene unfolded that would strike a chord with anyone who has ever worried about an aging loved one’s safety. Rona McClure, a paraplegic woman who relies on an electric wheelchair after a cancerous tumor crushed her spine, was left sitting outside her flooded flat for seven hours. She waited, exposed to the elements, while authorities scrambled to find her somewhere—anywhere—she could safely spend the night. Ultimately, Rona ended up in a hospital bed, not because of a medical emergency, but because her home had become dangerously uninhabitable.
Her ordeal was not an isolated incident. According to BBC Scotland News, Blackwood Homes and Care declared a major incident at MacLehose Court, a supported housing complex in Greenock, on December 8, 2025. Water began pouring into ground floor flats, marking the fourth flood since November. Residents believe the culprit is a persistently faulty nearby drain, exacerbated by a spate of stormy weather. Blackwood, for its part, says it is still working to identify the root cause, but for tenants like Rona and her mother Margaret Clark, the explanation offers little comfort.
Margaret recounted the chaos to BBC Scotland News: “The first time it happened the carers were the first to spot it—they had gone into the flat and realized the floor was wet. It wasn’t too bad. But a couple of days later the house was flooded, with water up over your ankles. The electric wheels on Rona’s chair were skidding with the deep water and it was dangerous, so she had to sit outside.” She continued, “Rona was there from half past three until 10:30 at night while they tried to find her somewhere. Eventually it was only a hospital bed they could give her for one night.”
Since then, the family has endured two more floods. On the most recent occasion, Rona was forced to spend the night in her sodden flat because no suitable accommodation could be found. The size of her wheelchair renders many older care homes inaccessible, further limiting her options. While Rona has now been offered a temporary home at another Blackwood complex in Cardonald, the emotional toll has been severe. Margaret says her daughter’s mental health has been devastated by the constant stress and uncertainty.
Rona’s story is just one among many. About nine residents have had to abandon their homes at MacLehose Court since the flooding began. John and Susan Bell, an elderly couple who had lived in the complex for four years, saw their furniture, floors, and beds ruined. Their ordeal was compounded when Susan suffered a bad fall last week, requiring several days in hospital. Their son Stewart Bell described the situation as a “nightmare,” telling BBC Scotland News: “These things can happen and I understand it, but it has taken a month now to fix. The second time it happened, the water was over my ankles. We paid out to fix the floors and after two weeks of staying with my sister my parents moved back in. Then it just immediately flooded that night. The house is unsafe and they’ll have to start again at 75.”
For many families, the most galling aspect has been the perceived slow response from Blackwood staff. Both Margaret and Stewart expressed frustration at having to manage the logistics of moving their loved ones’ belongings themselves, while staff were rarely seen on site. Blackwood told BBC Scotland that the situation was a top priority and that teams were working with Inverclyde Council and Scottish Water to resolve the flooding. “Our immediate priority has been to help secure suitable temporary accommodation where required and to ensure people’s safety. Teams are continuing to work on site, with water being pumped 24 hours a day,” a spokesperson said. However, the underlying causes of the flooding remain unresolved, leaving residents in limbo.
Inverclyde Council has also weighed in, with a spokesperson stating: “We are supporting Blackwood with their repairs and relocation of residents as best we can. Our roads service are providing advice and support to help facilitate the repair works and also our health and social care colleagues have been supporting residents into temporary accommodation.”
While the Greenock floods are a dramatic example, they highlight a broader, quieter crisis facing aging and disabled populations across the UK and the United States. According to a survey reported by KFF Health News on December 11, 2025, many older Americans are struggling with disabilities but are reluctant to acknowledge them or seek the accommodations to which they’re entitled under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The University of Michigan survey, conducted in February 2025 among more than 3,800 adults aged 50 to 95, found that fewer than 18% of respondents over age 65 identified as having a disability. Yet, when asked about functional limitations—such as difficulty hearing, seeing, walking, dressing, or concentrating—roughly one-third of those aged 65 to 74, and over 44% of those over 75, reported trouble with at least one of these tasks. When considering conditions that would require ADA accommodations, about half of the younger group and two-thirds of older respondents reported disabilities.
Despite these numbers, fewer than one in five seniors had ever received an accommodation from a health care provider, and only a quarter had even asked for one. Experts such as Megan Morris, director of the Disability Equity Collaborative at New York University, see this as a cultural trait. “Many people still feel like ‘disability’ is a dirty word,” Morris told KFF Health News. Michelle Meade, director of the University of Michigan Center for Disability Health and Wellness, added, “We’re supposed to toughen up and battle through it” when faced with a disability. This reluctance is particularly pronounced among older Americans whose formative years predated the ADA and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
Yet, there are real benefits to self-identifying as disabled. Studies show that people who do so have higher self-esteem, less depression and anxiety, and a greater sense of self-efficacy. “It can mean being part of a community of people who are good problem-solvers, who figure things out and work in partnership to do things better,” Meade explained. In health care settings, accommodations can include accessible X-ray machines, adjustable exam tables, wheelchair-accessible scales, large print materials, magnifiers, and amplification devices for those with hearing loss.
The combined lessons from Greenock and the United States are clear: the intersection of aging, disability, and housing is fraught with challenges. Whether it’s a vulnerable woman left outside her flooded flat, or thousands of seniors quietly struggling with daily tasks, the need for accessible, responsive support systems has never been more urgent. As climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events like flooding, and as the population continues to age, these issues will only become more pressing. For now, families like the McClures and Bells are left to navigate a system that too often leaves them out in the cold—sometimes quite literally—while policymakers and providers play catch-up.
For those facing similar struggles, experts urge: don’t hesitate to ask for help. The accommodations are there, by law, and seeking them can make a world of difference—not just in comfort, but in dignity and peace of mind.
