Re: WAI-AGE task force agenda - 1-Oct-2008

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 11:45 PM, Michael Stenitzer <stenitzer@wienfluss.net
> wrote:
age might counteract experience sometimes.

So might youth?

The central factor in all of this is that to make sweeping generalisations
about ageing's relationship to our issues is not the way to go.

There is no doubt (when you are in the situation of being old) that we have
been both labeled and, in about the same sense as with horrible disease,
pitied.

We are in the same position that women (mostly) used to find themselves: too
emotional, etc. Many "descriptions" of ageing are simply inaccurate as well
as demeaning.

The differences between old folk "A" and old folk "B" are quite vast - as
much or more so than the differences between "old folks" and "others".

The entire EU WAI-AGE project is based on the widely-held misconception that
"elders" have characteristics (beyond a bunch of experience) that need
attention (even cure?).

The same "problems" in making stuff accessible for everybody are addressed
whether it's about age/gender/ethnicity - there are simply too many broad
assumptions that have so many exceptions as to make the exercise just short
of futile. One of our major functions should be to educate the audience for
this stuff to the fact that there are old "power users" and old "newbies".
To regard them as other than just more humans won't cut it.

Love.