Eldering; quick quote and question; part two... Thank you for helping me decipher the puzzling final sentence of Dorothy Pomerantz' "Rethinking Old Age" -- the one that goes: "We need to get science and technology working to make the real vulnerabilities associated with aging invisible."[Note: The article is online at
http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/1126/122.html , but I can't tell whether it's available if you're not a print subscriber.]
I thought at first that "invisible"
must be a typo for "visible." Because what inspired Dr. Laura Carstensen to specialize in research on "the social psychology of aging" was the four months she spent on an orthopedic ward after a serious accident when she was 20, during which she noticed a vast gap between the excellent care she was given and the care that the elderly women in the ward received -- the article says that "many of the older patients with broken hips were ignored." In that context, "We need to get science and technology working to make the real vulnerabilities associated with aging visible" would make sense, because visible vulnerablities would be harder to ignore than invisible ones.
However, after reading the article another time or two I can see that there's another possibility. Carstensen heads the Stanford Center on Longevity. And the article says, on page 124: "So far the most concrete product to come out of the center is a shoe that helps alleviate the effects of arthritis. Other projects in the works include a robot to help with household tasks; an ankle brace to prevent falls that senses when an older person is getting off balance; and an Internet program for self-management of chronic diseases." In that context, perhaps "invisible" is what was intended, with the idea that "vulnerabilities" made invisible would be less likely to provoke negative perceptions and attitudes toward the elderly.
Several of you have mentioned the raising of the Social Security retirement age in your comments, and I want to say just a few words about that here. It worries me that the eligibility age is being raised across the board -- as if all people 67 years of age were identical -- instead of being linked to a different sort of "means testing" that would include at least an interview and a brief physical exam. People age at different rates, and to different degrees. I know elders in their seventies who could hold down a reasonably sedentary job without much difficulty; I know others the same age for whom that would just be impossible. And I'm aware of a number of elderly women in my area who are working in jobs that
aren't sedentary -- working as waitresses, for example, and as cooks, and on their feet all day long -- and are suffering in those jobs. When I fret about that, people tell me that it's not a problem, that elders who aren't able to work should just go on the Social Security disability program, but that's not easy to accomplish, and the elders who most need that option have a terrible time getting through the paperwork and red tape. And even when they manage to navigate all the hurdles, they're then faced with a baroque tangle of restrictions on their activities -- restrictions that have as their single purpose "proving" that they're not able to work.
The title blurb for "Rethinking Old Age" says "Stanford professor Laura Carstensen says we are unprepared to deal with an aging America," and I certainly agree with that statement. I think the Baby Boomers who are just now reaching retirement age are going to be deeply dissatisfied with the way their "golden years" are dealt with by our society, and my experience with Boomers doesn't lead me to believe that they'll react quietly and serenely to arrangements they find grossly inadequate.
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Nonfiction online: "How Verbal Self-Defense Works" at
http://people.howstuffworks.com/vsd.htm ; "Why Are Old Women Older Than Old Men And How Can We Fix That?" at
http://www.seniorwomen.com/articles/articlesElginOld.html ;
Religious Language Newsletter archive at
http://www.forlovingkindness.org .
Fiction online: "We Have Always Spoken Panglish" at
http://www.sfwa.org/members/elgin/Story-Panglish.html ; "What The EPA Don't Know Won't Hurt Them" at
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/epa.htm ; "Weather Bulletin" at
http://www.sfwa.org/members/elgin/Weather.html ; "A Quorum Of Grandmothers" at
http://www.sfwa.org/members/elgin/QuorumOfGrandmothers.html ;
The Communipaths at
http://www.jackiepowers.com/SuzetteHadenElgin/TheCommunipaths.html . More stuff at
http://www.sfwa.org/members/elgin/SiteMap.html ; LiveJournal
blog index at
http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=ozarque .