Winning the Sweepstakes (And Losing Your Savings)
Financial elder abuse is particularly harrowing because older adults do not have a lifetime left to make up the loss through work and investment.
Looking Old
Over the weekend, I came across a perfectly dreadful essay about how awful it is to look old.
Facebook/Hatebook
In my earliest interaction with Facebook in 2007, one of the first things I discovered were dozens of sites devoted to hating old people. Nothing has changed since.
Words With Elders
Kingston Nursing Center in Conway, South Carolina is having a great time honoring National Scrabble Day. The team thought it would be fun to honor National Scrabble Day and the hot new game “Words with Friends” together. The Administrative Secretary and the Enrichment Team worked together to create this amazing interactive bulletin board. The idea [...]
Study: Bill Thomas is Aging
Is it possible to grow old – with chronic disease, loneliness, isolation, – and still be happy? Well, is it?
Elder Susceptibility to Scams, Swindles and Fraud
It’s bugged me for years that conventional wisdom, along with the FBI and others, assert that elders fall victim to scams more frequently than younger people.
Martin Bayne Talks about Life on the Inside
Today’s must read is an interview that Martin Bayne recently gave to the New York Times.
Visioning Elderhood
Can you imagine yourself older? Can you imagine yourself as an Elder? Do you even want to?
Senior Moment? Try Mind Expansion
The important loss of mental agility can also give us valuable new abilities, if we know where to look for them.
Elderspeak: Babytalk Directed at Older Adults
Experts found when older adults are exposed to the patronizing language of elderspeak their performance on tasks decreases and their rates of depression increase.
Stepping Up/Down
We all deserve to live our lives knowing that an elderhood free from the most pressing cares and gifted with the self-respect that accompanies autonomy can be ours.
#Geropunk
The mini-controversy surrounding the Taco Bell Super Bowl 47 ad has been a useful prod to my thinking.
Mid-Life Crisis as a Developmental Challenge
Most surprising is that so few people actually experience a mid-life crisis as they struggle to escape being trapped in a way of living that no longer suits them.
Tip of the Tongue
People of all ages are familiar with the experience of knowing a name, having that name right on the tip of the tongue, and— not being able to produce the name.
Labels Matter
Yes, labels (such as “elderly”) matter, for better or worse. They are also kind of dangerous, and as a culture, we’re hooked on them. They’re like a verbal system that dehumanizes communication, much as the medical model, or “systems”, dehumanize caregiving.
About THAT Word
I was recently involved in a minor dust up on Twitter regarding the use of the word “elderly.”
Over the years I have evolved from using that word routinely to avoiding it completely. Why the change?
Private Heaven, or Personal Hell?
Through extended visits to The Villages, Sun City and Youngtown, Arizona, Andrew Blechman’s book, Leisureville: Adventures in America’s Retirement Utopias reveals the lives of those who have embraced the rising trend of segregated (often gated) communities for older adults (the new marketing term is “age-preferred”).
Intergenerational News
A wonderfully informative round up of intergenerational news came to me courtesy of the National Assembly of Human Services.
It’s the Simple Things
One of the things I love most about the field of aging is that there are an almost unlimited number great ideas that are SIMPLE. Here is a perfect example:
Pete Peterson Doesn’t Care About You
As an advocate for older people I have always been aware of the enduring animosity that has been inspired by America’s limited but adequate social insurance programs. The opposition to these innovations comes almost entirely from the wealthy few.
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