November 2, 2014 - 15:01
First of all I find 'Why I hope to die at 75' to not only be classist like smalina, peter, and hummingbird spoke about but also very ableist. He perpetuates this idea that being disabled in anyway is the worst possible thing that could happen to a human instead of realizing that disablity is envitable for all humans. Also, his generalizations about others lives is very hetero normative in that he constantly refers to marriage and having children and grandchildren as markers of a fulfilled life.
I found it interesting that he focused on the idea, which silverstone talks about, that when you are over 75 you are either completley disabled or perfectly healthy. Silverstone raises this idea as a fault in many social workers view of the elderly; this idea perpetuates the neglectful thinking of people over 75 that are neither completely disabled or perfectly able bodied. Like Hummingbird stated Emanuel does exactly what Silverstone highlights as a problem in that he focuses on the elderly as a group and not indivduals. Like silverstone stated, the elderly have been looked at as situation than individual instead of invidual than situation. This being said, Emanuel focuses on the the fact that people over 75 are elderly and therefore prone to disability ( the situation) and does not accept that they are indivduals who are each aging differently.
-Natalie