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Between the injunction to be autonomous, and the rhythms of life of elderly people who cannot always manage their affairs or live at home without assistance, social, legal and informal safeguards are arranged. They are often necessary, particularly to avoid endangerment or various forms of abuse, but in daily life they can also substitute decision-making, at the expense of what the person may say or feel. We need the values and common language offered by human rights. Firstly, to never ignore the person herself, when cognitive ageing impairs the person’s ability to make her choices by herself. Secondly, to reconsider the services that can be proposed to the person who needs care. Thirdly, because the responsibility to protect, embedded in our solidarities, will only gain its full significance if it is irrigated and vitalized by the breath of human rights, which cannot be reduced to individualistic demands, because they constitute the foundation of every human society that respects men and women as people.