This week we visited Casa de Manana, where we hosted an intergenerational discussion on age-friendly communities with the residents. After reporting the findings from our NAPs on the age-friendliness of La Jolla, Barrio Logan, and Golden Hill, we partnered with Casa de Manana residents in small groups to discuss essential features of an age-friendly community and propose ways to make the physical and social environment of the city more age friendly. Our elder partners provided great insight into the difficulties that seniors face daily, including narrow crosswalks and buses that do not allow enough time for seniors to board and settle. Most of our elder partners were also interested in creating more intergenerational activities to enhance social inclusion and respect for different generations, and they proposed activities that would benefit both the old and young. For instance, a resident suggested that students attend classes about current world issues with elders at Casa de Manana and/or receive tutoring and mentorship from the wise and experienced seniors. Another resident expressed interest in a combined senior and child care program where elders can help babysit toddlers. Hearing the elders’ perspective on age-friendly features was enlightening and helped me realize how age segregation in our society begets ageism and thus impeded healthy aging. Also, the wisdom, kindness, gratefulness, and humbleness exuded by Casa de Manana residents never ceased to amaze and inspire me. At the end of the discussion, a resident told me that she is proud of her children and the younger generations for the changes and innovations they have contributed to society, and that she is eager to see us students leave our mark on the world. I, too, am excited to see my peers and myself make an impact on our community and promote healthy aging.
We continued our Worlds of Difference: Inequality in the Aging Experience book discussion, this time focusing on the social and psychological context of aging. The readings from this chapter describe how societal expectations discourage people from living true to themselves over their life course. Moreover, the passages illustrate different stereotypes attached to elders and how internalization of these stereotypes influences the aging experience. Thus, it is important to find the balance between fulfilling one’s role in society and accommodating personal needs/maintaining personal identity.
We then watched a documentary on population aging in the United States and the challenges our aging population face. The documentary suggests that as Social Security deficiency causes financial crisis for elders, people in their 40-50s are greatly distressed and exhausted by the burden of providing and caring for both their children and their retired parents. On the other hand, with medical advances in modern society, people entering retirement are still physically and mentally capable of working; this raises the question of whether retirement age should be increased. The documentary proposes a solution that I think would be more effective than raising the retirement age – a model in which periods of working are alternated with periods of leisure and rest would reduce workers’ burnout and increase workplace efficiency better than a model of long, continuous work years followed by retirement. The documentary also suggests that removing the limit on taxable income amount can alleviate the issue of Social Security bankruptcy. Overall, this documentary addresses many problems caused by policies that are resistant to changes and thus fail to accommodate demographic shifts in the United States. |
Nhi NguyenArchives
June 2018
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