A Preview of the

Narratives of Old
Age and Dementia
A-jen@DFLL, NTU
cjchentw@ntu.edu.tw

 Cultural Studies
Literary Studies
Gender Studies
What defines Media and Film Studies
Consumer Culture
Studies of Sociology
Social Welfare
Public Health
Old Age and Gerontology
Physiology
Social Science
Dementia? Policy Making
Medicine
Nursing

 Fear
Despair
How does the Hope
Conflict
context define Identity
Love
Class
old age and Relationship
Community
dementia? Environment
Technology
Future

Dementia cases set to triple by

2050. Globally, about 153 million

n g e s
people will have dementia by 2050,
according to a new study. Risk factors

C h a
such as smoking, obesity, and high
blood sugar could be responsible for
almost 7 million of these cases. And
so far, there is no cure.
Old Age Dementia
 culture
race history
Old Age
gender Dementia politics

science economics

 Structure of Feeling
• Raymond Williams, “structure of feeling”

• Edward W. Said, “structure of attitude”

• A “structure of feeling” is the culture of a

particular historical moment, though in developing
the concept, Williams wished to avoid idealist
notions of a “spirit of the age (zeitgeist).”

• It suggests a common set of perceptions and

values shared by a particular generation, and is
most clearly articulated in particular and artistic
forms and conventions.

 Key Issues of Old Age/Dementia

01 Stigma 02 Agism

03 Disability 04 Ablism
 01
Stigma
Negative Representations

Stereotypes
• Common negative stereotypes about older
people include their suffering from poor health
and loneliness, physical and cognitive
incompetency, unproductivity and
unattractiveness.

• Goffman identi ed three main types of stigma:

(1) stigma associated with mental illness; (2)
stigma associated with physical deformation;
and (3) stigma attached to identi cation with a
particular race, ethnicity, religion, ideology, etc.

• Personal Stigma & Common Stigma

fi

fi

• Susan Sontag on
Stigmatization

• Illness as metaphor

• “Illness is the night side of life, a

more onerous citizenship. Everyone
who is born holds dual citizenship,
in the kingdom of the well and in the
kingdom of the sick. Although we all
prefer to use the good passport,
sooner or later each of us is
obliged, at least for a spell, to
identify ourselves as citizens of that
other place.”
02
Ageism
No Country for Old Man

Discrimination
1969
Coined by Robert Neil Butler
 g e i s m
A “This is ageism: the stereotypes
(how we think), prejudice (how we
feel) and discrimination (how we
act) towards others or ourselves
based on age..”
——World Health Organization
 Ageism
a socially a tendency to structure
constructed way of society based on an
thinking about older assumption that
everyone is young,
persons based on thereby failing to
negative attitudes respond appropriately
and stereotypes to the real needs of
about aging older persons
03
Disability
Disability Studies
3 models of disabilities

Moral
Medical
Social
Disability Studies

• Hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, osteoarthritis,

heart disease, gait and mobility issues, falls, respiratory
infections/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, urine
Urinary Incontinence, osteoporosis, skin disease,
hearing and vision loss, and dementia are examples of
these conditions. All related to old age.

• More than 46 per cent of older persons – those aged 60

years and over—have disabilities and more than 250
million older people experience moderate to severe
disabilities. —Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs, UN

.
04
Ableism
“Discrimination in favor of able-bodied
people”

Ableism characterizes people as defined by their

disabilities and inferior to the non-disabled.
 Ableism can include:
Ableism
• believing people with disabilities have less
value and worth.

• assuming they want to be “healed” or can

“overcome” a disability.

• suggesting they're “inspirational” for handling

everyday activities and routine tasks.

• assuming they lead an unhappy, limited life

• assuming they can't do things for themselves.

Examples • asking someone what is

“wrong” with them. saying,
“You do not look
disabled,” as though this is a
compliment. viewing a person
with a disability as inspirational
for doing typical things, such
as having a career. assuming a
physical disability is a product
of laziness or lack of exercise.
Old Age
“I have reached an
age when, if someone
tells me to wear
socks, I don’t have to.

Albert Einstein
“The secret of genius
is to carry the spirit of
the child into old age,
which means never
losing your
enthusiasm.”

Aldous Huxley
“Forty is the old age
of youth; fifty the
youth of old age.”

Victor Hugo
“Old age is like
everything else. To
make a success of it,
you've got to start
young.”

Theodore Roosevelt
“Education
is the best
provision
for old age.”
Aristotle
"Old age
isn't a battle;
old age is a
massacre.”
Philip Roth
Any Questions?