Communications of the ACM

Home/Magazine Archive/July 2021 (Vol. 64, No. 7)/The Harm in Conflating Aging With Accessibility/Abstract

Contributed articles

The Harm in Conflating Aging With Accessibility

By Bran Knowles, Vicki L. Hanson, Yvonne Rogers, Anne Marie Piper, Jenny Waycott, Nigel Davies, Aloha Hufana Ambe, Robin N. Brewer, Debaleena Chattopadhyay, Marianne Dee, David Frohlich, Marisela Gutierrez-Lopez, Ben Jelen, Amanda Lazar, Radoslaw Nielek, Belén Barros Pena, Abi Roper, Mark Schlager, Britta Schulte, Irene Ye Yuan
Communications of the ACM, July 2021, Vol. 64 No. 7, Pages 66-71
10.1145/3431280
Comments

View as: Print Mobile App ACM Digital Library In the Digital Edition Share:

older hands on a keyboard — Credit: MrMohock / Shutterstock

"The quest for youth—so futile. Age and wisdom have their graces too."— Jean Luc Picard

It is an increasingly global phenomenon that societies promote the notion of youth as the preferred state.^a In stark contrast to the "wise elder" of ages past, today old age is assumed to be marked by loss of physical and cognitive ability, diminished relevance, and as we are sadly seeing with the COVID-19 pandemic, devalued humanity.¹⁸ In many ways, it is not surprising that such stereotypes are reflected in our technologies: tech companies compete for territory in an already overcrowded youth market; whereas older adults,^b if considered users at all, are offered little more than fall alarms, activity monitors, and senior-friendly (often lower functionality) versions of existing tools. Meanwhile, there is a growing trend of workers aging out of the tech industry as early as their mid-40s,¹⁷ reflecting the higher value placed on the perspectives of those who represent the default target demographic.

No entries found

Log in to Read the Full Article

Sign In

Sign in using your ACM Web Account username and password to access premium content if you are an ACM member, Communications subscriber or Digital Library subscriber.

Need Access?

Please select one of the options below for access to premium content and features.

Create a Web Account

If you are already an ACM member, Communications subscriber, or Digital Library subscriber, please set up a web account to access premium content on this site.

Join the ACM

Become a member to take full advantage of ACM's outstanding computing information resources, networking opportunities, and other benefits.

Subscribe to Communications of the ACM Magazine

Get full access to 50+ years of CACM content and receive the print version of the magazine monthly.

Purchase the Article

Non-members can purchase this article or a copy of the magazine in which it appears.