Able-ism and Age-ism

 

A few years ago, an elderly lady (old enough to be my mother) told me that she had been advised to wear orthopaedic shoes. She then commented that there was no way she wanted to wear those ugly things.

And I understood. Wearing ugly shoes was never something I wanted to do but I do. I accepted that if i want to walk, I need AFOs and they need to be worn in a solidly constructed, supportive shoe.

Anyhow, I had a giggle to myself because the old lady was complaining about something I had been forced to make peace with forty years younger. She was also unintentionally insulting me.

Over the years, I have heard many of these types of comments about walking sticks while I stand there with my pink and red stick. I usually nod sagely and say "well they are a pain until you really need them"

I often hear about old people who resist the move to aged care because of "all the old people"

This week, I asked mum if she would go on the Friday bus trip her aged care facility organises. She was horrified at the suggestion, saying that she doesn't want to do the silly activities. Then she told me that she once went to a sing-along and hated it because it was "a bunch of old people in wheelchairs" Guess who is an old lady in a wheelchair?

If we could just get past the able-ism and age-ism where all this originates, if we could just see people using a variety of adaptations as people who are trying to get the most out of life, maybe we would all do better when we got to the point where we become the person with the daggy shoes, the walker, the wheelchair or for that matter, the incontinence product.