We’re Older. Not Decrepit.

By Erica and Karen

We were startled when nice young people started to offer us seats on the subway. Wait–had we forgotten to comb our hair, or put on makeup? Of course not. But obviously we look our age, and to many people that means we are not as able bodied as once we were.

Then there was that sign at Union Station in D.C stating that people 60 and over could board early. At 60 we need extra time? (Admittedly, the walk to the train is longer than one might think. But still.)

We concede that body parts start to get a little wonky as one ages. It is also the case that in the twenty-first century we have learned many techniques for keeping said body parts functional. We have learned the benefits of resistance training, for people of all ages. We have learned the benefits of eating properly. We have all kinds of medical interventions that keep us strong and fit.

So, even though it is well meant, we do not wish to be treated as if we are unable to keep up just because we are older.

The perception that older people are inevitably disabled, and that disabled people cannot function as full human beings, is prevalent, even as the population of older people is growing exponentially, and even though that population is much more fit than prior populations of the same age.

Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, who from 2014 to 2020 served as the first U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, also discussed the intersectionality of aging and disability, noting that “given that the number of persons over the age of 80 years is expected to more than triple by 2050, the correlation between the ageing population and increased rates of disability is very clear”.

She wrote that “although ageism and ableism share common roots and consequences, inequality in older age is not the mere result of ableist biases … [and] … ageism—the stereotyping of, and prejudice and discrimination towards, older people and older age—is a distinct form of oppression that affects older persons, including older persons with disabilities.”

According to Devandas-Aguilar, “while disability is increasingly understood as a social construct, inequalities due to old age are predominantly seen as ‘natural’ or ‘inevitable,’ ” which leads to “older persons with disabilities [being] discriminated against and disadvantaged not just because they have a disability, but also because of stereotypes about older people”. (Citations omitted.)

In fact, it is not natural, let alone inevitable, that being older being older necessarily implies a decrease in ability.

I spent the first decade or more of my life as a gerontologist trying to disabuse people of equating aging with disability. Later life is the most varied, least homogeneous part of the life course. Growing older, we taught then (and now), is not predictable decline, and we used plentiful data to impart that the overwhelming majority of us age without acquiring disabilities. We may acquire conditions or even impairments but these are not necessarily disabilities.

Citations that reportedly show large percentages of older Americans with disabilities often fail to distinguish among impairments, disabilities, chronic conditions, and handicaps, and conflate the terminology, showing instead the simple presence of an impairment and not a disabling consequence.

Indeed, the linked assumptions that over fifty equals old, and old equals incapacitated, are both outdated and counterfactual. People of any age may be in need of a seat, but people over fifty who are vibrant and strong are not, generally, in need of assistance simply as a consequence of age.

Why do we care? We care because we think when society unthinkingly concludes that some class of people fails to check all the boxes for full humanity, then members of that class risk negative feelings about themselves, and people not in the class are confused about reality. Which makes no sense and misleads everybody.

So thanks for the offer of a seat, or an early boarding time. We may need it some day, when we have taken a fall or have too much to carry. Just like someone younger might need it. But until then, please assume we can run with the rest of you! You’ll be happier, and so will we.