Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:35:27.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disability, Dependence, and Old Age: Problematic Constructions*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Sharon Dale Stone
Sharon Dale Stone*
Affiliation:
Lakehead University
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-a-part doivent être adressées à: Sharon Dale Stone, Ph.D., 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper argues that fear of aging can more precisely be recognized as a fear of disability and that fear of disability can be centrally understood as a fear of dependence. Accordingly, we are not likely to see old people being treated as important members of society until we see a change in attitudes towards disability. The argument is developed with reference to a consideration of attitudes toward and treatment of elders and people with disabilities, a consideration of the social construction of dependency, and an examination of statistics on the Canadian population of people with disabilities. The ubiquity of disability across all age groups means that there needs to be a re-conceptualization of disability as part of the human experience.

Résumé

Selon cet article, la peur de vieillir peut être vue, dans une manière plus précise, comme une peur de l'incapacité. Cette peur de l'incapacité est surtout une peur de dépendance. Par la suite, on ne verra pas les personnes âgées traiter comme des membres importants de la société si on ne voit pas un changement d'attitude envers l'incapacité. L'argument de l'article se développe en prenant en considération les attitudes envers les personnes âgées et des personnes handicapées et le traitement de celles-ci. Aussi, l'article considère l'importance de la construction sociale de dépendance. Enfin, il examine les statistiques canadiennes des personnes handicapées. L'omniprésence de l'incapacité dans tous les groupements d'âge veut dire qu'il faut une reconceptualisation de l'incapacité comme partie de l'existence humaine.

Keywords

old agedisabilitydependenceinterdependencevieillissementincapacitédépendanceinterdépendance
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , Spring/Printemps 2003 , pp. 59 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Research Symposium “Celebrating Gerontology”, Northern Educational Centre for Aging and Health, Lakehead University, March 23, 1999. For helpful suggestions to strengthen the paper, the author thanks Ellen Gee, Carolyn Rosenthal, and anonymous reviewers.

References

Refferrencces

Altman, B.M. (2001). Disability definitions, models, classification schemes, and applications. In Albrecht, G.L., Seelman, K.D., & Bury, M. (Eds.), Handbook of disability studies (pp. 97–122). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barer, M.L., Evans, R.G., & Hertzman, C. (1995). Avalanche or glacier?: Health care and the demographic rhetoric. Canadian Journal on Aging 14(2), 193–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, J. (1992). In search of a discourse on aging: The elderly on television. The Gerontologist 32(3), 305–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Black, C., Ross, N.P., Havens, B., & MacWilliam, L. (1995). Rising use of physician services by the elderly: The contribution of morbidity. Canadian Journal on Aging 14(2), 225–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P.G. (1998). Moral economy and the social construction of the crisis of aging and health care: Differing Canadian and U.S. perspectives. In Estes, C.L. & Minkler, M. (Eds.), Critical gerontology: Perspectives from political and moral economy (pp. 147–168). Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing.Google Scholar
Cohen, E.S. (1988). The elderly mystique: Constraints on the autonomy of the elderly with disabilities. The Gerontologist 28 (Suppl.), 24–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, G.L. (1990). A profile of three disabled populations. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Labour and Household Surveys Analysis Division.Google Scholar
Cole, T.R. (1994). The journey of life: A cultural history of aging in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Conrad, P. (1994). Wellness as virtue: Morality and the pursuit of health. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 18, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cordingley, L., & Webb, C. (1997). Independence and aging. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology 7, 137–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cott, C.A., & Gignac, M.A.M. (2000). Independence and dependence for older adults with osteoarthritis or osteoporosis. Canadian Journal on Aging 18(1), 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniel, B. (1999). Working with older women. In Lawrence, M. & Maguire, M. (Eds.), Psychotherapy with women: Feminist perspectives (pp. 192–212). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
DeJong, G. (1983). Independent living: From social movement to analytic paradigm. In Crewe, N., et al. (Eds.), Independent living for physically disabled people. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Estes, C.L. (1993). The aging enterprise revisited. The Gerontologist 33(3), 292–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Featherstone, M. (1982). The body in consumer culture. Theory, Culture & Society 1, 18–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gadow, S. (1986). Introduction to Part 2. In Cole, Thomas R. & Gadow, Sally A. (Eds.), What does it mean to grow old? Reflections from the humanities (pp. 131–134). Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleeson, B. (1999). Geographies of disability. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. (2000, January 22). The town seniors saved from extinction. The Globe and Mail, p. A18.Google Scholar
Gubernick, L. (with Kroll, L.). (1996, May 6). Gray hair is cool. Forbes 157, 116.Google Scholar
Hahn, H. (1983). Paternalism and public policy. Society (March/April), 36–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, Edward B. (1990). Selected socio-economic consequences of disability for women in Canada. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada.Google Scholar
Hughes, W. (1999). The constitution of impairment: Modernity and the aesthetic of oppression. Disability & Society 14(2): 155–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, W. (2000). Medicine and the aesthetic invalidation of disabled people. Disability & Society 15(4), 555–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Illsley, R. (1981). Problems of dependency groups: The care of the elderly, the handicapped and the chronically ill. Social Science and Medicine 15A(3), 327–332.Google Scholar
Ingstad, B. & Whyte, S.R. (Eds.). (1995). Disability and culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, S.R. (1994). The social construction of frailty: An anthropological perspective. Journal of Aging Studies 8(1), 45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J. & Minkler, M. (1998). Disability theory and public policy: Implications for critical gerontology. In Estes, C.L. & Minkler, M. (Eds.), Critical gerontology: Perspectives from political and moral economy (pp. 91–108). Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing.Google Scholar
Lahey, A. (1998, Aug 24–31). Marketing the leisure life: Adult lifestyle communities are booming as seniors embrace a promised life of ease. Marketing 103(32): 20–21.Google Scholar
Minkler, M. (1989). Gold is gray: Reflections on business' discovery of the elderly market. The Gerontologist 29(1), 17–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCormack, J. (1993). Attitudes to ageing 1991: A review of the British Gas report. Australian Journal on Ageing 12(2), 41–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minkler, M. (1990). Aging and disability: Behind and beyond the stereotypes. Journal of Aging Studies 4(3), 245–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minkler, M. (1996). Critical perspectives on ageing: New challenges for gerontology. Ageing and Society 16, 467–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moody, H.R. (1986). The meaning of life and the meaning of old age. In Cole, T.R. & Gadow, S.A. (Eds.), What does it mean to grow old? Reflections from the humanities (pp. 9–40). Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, E.G., & Rosenberg, M.W. (with McGuinness, D.). (1997). Growing old in Canada: Demographic and geographic perspectives. Scarborough, ON: International Thomson Publishing.Google Scholar
Novak, M. (1985). Successful aging: The myths, realities and future of aging in Canada. Markham, ON: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Oliver, M. (1990). The politics of disablement. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, M. (1993). Disability and dependency: A creation of industrial societies? In Swain, J., Finkelstein, V., French, S., & Oliver, M. (Eds.), Disabling barriers — Enabling environments (pp. 49–60). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Otto, L. (1999). Old? No way!: Baby boomer retirement and housing. Journal of Property Management 64(3), 66–69.Google Scholar
Peterson, R.T., and Ross, D.T. (1997). A content analysis of the portrayal of mature individuals in television commercials. Journal of Business Ethics 16, 425–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quirouette, C.C., & Pushkar, D. (1999). Views of future aging among middle-aged, university educated women. Canadian Journal on Aging 18(2), 236–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reker, G.T. (1990). Creative aging: The power of years. The Journal of the Gerontological Nursing Association 14(4), 6–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Riley, M.W., & Bond, K. (1983). Beyond ageism: Postposing the onset of disability. In Riley, M.W., Hess, B.B., & Bond, K. (Eds.), Aging in society: Selected reviews of recent research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. (1998). Beyond apocalyptic demography: Toward a moral economy of interdependence. In Estes, C.L. & Minkler, M. (Eds.), Critical gerontology: Perspectives from political and moral economy (pp. 75–90). Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing.Google Scholar
Rowe, J.W. & Kahn, R.L. (1998). Successful aging. New York: Random House.Google ScholarPubMed
Scheer, J., & Groce, N. (1988). Impairment as a human constant: Cross-cultural and historical perspectives on variation. Journal of Social Issues 44(1), 23–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shakespeare, T. (1994). Cultural representation of disabled people: Dustbins for disavowal? Disability & Society 9(3), 283–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stahl, S.M. and Feller, J.R. (1990). Old equals sick: An ontogenetic fallacy. In Stahl, S.M. (Ed.), The legacy of longevity: Health and health care in later life (pp. 21–34). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Stone, D.A. (1984). The disabled state. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, S.D. (1995). The myth of bodily perfection. Disability & Society 10(4), 413–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistics Canada. (1995). A portrait of persons with disabilities. Ottawa: Minister of Industry, Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada. (1991). Health and activity limitation survey: 1991 — User's guide. Ottawa: Author.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada (1990). The health and activity limitation survey. Highlights: Disabled persons in Canada. Ottawa: Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion.Google Scholar
Verbrugge, L.M. (1990). The iceberg of disability. In Stahl, S.M. (Ed.), The legacy of longevity: Health and health care in later life (pp. 55–75). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ward, R. (1984). The marginality and salience of being old: When is age relevant? The Gerontologist 24, 227–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization. (1980). International classification of impairments, disabilities and handicaps. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Zola, I.K. (1993). Disability statistics, what we count and what it tells us: A personal and political analysis. Journal of Disability Policy Studies 4(2), 10–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar