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The Super Myth

Kathi Wolfe has a question for us baby boomers — Are we setting dangerous standards for old age?

Writing in the May/June issue of Utne Reader, “Wouldn't you know it? Baby boomers start getting old, suddenly aging is cool. John Glenn, at 77, returns to space. Seniors travel the globe, do volunteer work, and run marathons. No more doddering codgers, no more grannies in rocking chairs.”

Is this the future of aging, or simply the birth of another stereotype? she asks. Good question.

Wolfe turns to Joseph Shapiro, a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report and author of No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement for some insight. He feels cultural stereotypes of older people are similar to myths about disabled people. “Because Americans fear disability, we tend to celebrate people who seem to make the disability go away. The media love stories about the blind sailor who solos across the Atlantic or the man with a prosthetic leg running across Canada.”

For example, last year Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind man to climb Mount Everest. Wolfe, who herself is legally blind, says such publicity gives the public the expectation all people with disabilities are capable of amazing feats. She responded by writing “He's Your Inspiration, Not Mine” in the Washington Post. “It's hard to say which stereotype is more annoying: the disabled as helpless victims or as superheroes. It's certainly no fun to be an object of pity … On the other hand, it's just as bad to be held up as some kind of motivational guru … Like most people, disabled and non-disabled alike, I'm neither victim nor star. I work as a freelance writer, shop, take care of family responsibilities and visit friends …. But, realistic stories about people like me don't often make it into print or TV.”

People gravitate toward images of older superheroes because they fear aging. This ignores the ordinary challenges that older people encounter in daily life.

Shapiro says, “There is nothing wrong with celebrating extraordinary achievement. But the challenge for most people with disabilities is far more ordinary. People in wheelchairs can't work if they can't get into their office buildings. Society ignores these everyday challenges and gets excited about disabled people who do something extraordinary … Similarly, people gravitate toward images of older superheroes because they fear aging. This ignores the ordinary challenges that older people encounter in daily life. The debate about aging presents the erroneous impression that you're either vigorous or disabled.”

“Disabled people teach Americans that aging doesn't mean an end to independence. They teach us that aging and disability are a normal part of life.”

For a variety of reasons, disability rates among the elderly are falling. But, because there are so many of us baby boomers, the number of formerly nondisabled people will grow steadily.

Barry Corbet, age 65, has some wise words. Corbet had an adventurous knack for making skiing and mountaineering films. As the result of a helicopter crash while on a filming shoot near Aspen, Colorado over 33 years ago he became wheel chair bound. This unexpected event changed his life, forcing him to adapt to new way of living. Despite his injury, Corbet has managed to lead a productive life, filled with unique experiences.

“Newly disabled older people will think that life is all over, just as we once did. They too will say they can't — won't — live with less function, less independence, less opportunity. Perhaps they will welcome some advice from those who have faced these considerations before.”

Most of baby boomers couldn't run a marathon when we were in our 20's, much less climb Mt. Everest in our 50's. The sobering reality is that at least one out of every five of us will have a significant disability after we reach age 65. As Corbet says, “We are embarrassed by the finality of aging because it reminds us of our mortality.”

But fear not. In Aging and Rehabilitation, despite what many believe, Corbet says life satisfaction can remain high in the face of seemingly overwhelming obstacles and impairments. “We need to celebrate the fact that the human spirit can and routinely does rise above what we perceive as impossibly cruel fate. This is not to say that living with a disability is easy, but it is to say that things can be hard and good at the same time. This is the rule, not the exception.”