Valuing Old Age Without Leveraging Ableism

Copyright

2018

This article explores the ableism embedded in the concept of "successful aging", as enacted through a medical model approach to disability. The authors propose understandings of aging that integrate a social model of disability, to de-pathologize disability, acknowledge the complex experiences of disability and disease, strengthen gerontology’s interdisciplinary work, and avoid leveraging ableism to combat ageism.