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’ watched by others helps provide the individual spends most of his time become prisoners of space. "    
practical and social support from at home. Watching from a window The fastest growing group in our  
neighbors, and provides home-bound "provides a crucial link between the old population is people over 85, and says    
people with a sense of participation person and the contemporary world Rowles, "That’s putting all kinds of    
_ with what’s going on in the outside outside, a sense of participation in pressure on our families, our society. _ 1
world. It is particularly important for events.” Ni¤€KY P6? €€¤t U6 Cafcd {OY by th€lI` I Q7?
V those who live alone. An elderly woman says; "You know, families." He adds that most of the 1.4 Q    
A .   . . million old people in nursing homes VV r  
    '    .. have Alzheimer’s disease. I _ Q_
      _ A He Wanted to do the There are about 5.2 miiiiee eiei ,  
I   i 7 7 people living in our communities who i r
i   A   Of Studies that WOu1d need help with everyday living. "These A.
  A _ · A people," says Rowles, "are the people `
    V _V       aiu 1 · t 1 k t we should be concerned about because I 7  
      OW O OO a they are so very vulnerable." - Ai
l   .'     7 _ _ _ There’s little consensus on what V
.     _A ’ 7* V   -; [Q [feat causes the aging process, but whatever » t
g     A the cause, physical deterioration has to r ’
j     1 1 be accommodated. Rowles notes that in i » 7
      PCOP 6 as PCOP 6 the aging process there is a tendency for  
7 lif e    ` , , stiffening ofjoints, calcification of , A
- 7 and DOI as SIZIIISIICS. ligaments, compression of the spinal 7
. Gmhum ROW|€5 column, loss of muscle power, decrease .
{ in cardiac output, circulatory system i .
{ Wondering if thc same ideas would after you’ve gone to church all your failure, reduction in lung capacity, 7 7 .
§ apply to a rural environment, Rowles life, it’s hard not to be able to. I sit here impoverishment of tactile sensation, —
; began a study in rural Appalachia, and look out the window and watch slowing of reflexes, decline of visual
·`  called The Surveillance Zone as Meaningful them all go, and then I turn the TV on acuity and loss of hearing. Each of _
l Spacefar the Aged. He found that the and listen. It’s the next best thing . . . these changes contribute to difficulty in » .
. ' same ideas did apply. Sunday, I look out more, because I’m the normal routine of daily life—adding
l Being watched by neighbors is an watching people go to church. Since I to society’s stereotype of the frail .
` important social support. People in can’t go to church, I watch the cars go servant rather than master of the ·
l watching distance can monitor signals by, watch _]ean and Conrad leaving, environment.
7 on each others well being. For instance, McCories, all of them . . . and then at Old age is the first stage of life in
a neighbor will notice that a shade or noon, I watch them all come back." which there is a systematic loss of status   I
drape usually opened by a certain time Why do people tend to think of older for an entire group. And Rowles says 7 t
is not open and will check to find people in stereotypes and not in reality? there is "a pervasive condescension in 7
out why. Rowles points out that most people our dealings with older people. It seems
I One elderly woman told Rowles this between 65 and 70 are very active and that those of us who are not elderly are
story about her neighbors: "They are healthier than in previous only prepared to relate to older people
watch for the curtain to be opened in generations. There is a calmness and able to conform to our own modes of
the morning. He told me that. He said, wisdom about them. "The image we being." He asserts that physical 7
‘do you know, you get up about eight?’ have of older people is very different capabilities differ, support systems V
` I said, ‘yes, I do.’ He said, ‘well, at from that and we have to recognize that contrast, and aspirations, values, and _V
that time, I’m usually standing there at older people are smart and creative. dreams of old people show a lot of .
my kitchen window with a cup of coffee They have life experience and they are diversity, just as in younger people. 7.
in my hand watching for your curtains problem-solvers." He says older people "Each is a unique human being who  
, to be opened.’ " adapt and cope with both personal has displayed great resilience in ~
I Rowles says that growing old restrictions and environmental adapting to changing circumstances. ~
t involves a sense of social separation and constraints without too much difficulty, It’s hard to think of them as members »
I alienation because there is no work to but then, "when people get into their ofa common class—old people." »
i go to, no socially defined responsibility: late 70s and early 80s they gradually —Kay_]ohnson
UK lO