Contemplating getting old and thinking about what it would be like living out your last years institutionalised in a care home is enough to make anyone feel depressed. Sure, there are some excellent care homes out there, but there are also plenty that are steeped in loneliness and misery. And the prospect of losing your physical – or, even worse, your mental – faculties is deeply scary.
That gut reaction – an inherent fear of decline – is a very strong one, difficult to overcome. It infuses our attitudes towards ageing and helps bake ageism into society. Ageing is culturally all about managing decline rather than living the good life until the very end. That, in turn, affects how older people are looked after by their families and the care system.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2WwHC3q
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