The harm in conflating aging with accessibility

Knowles discusses the harm in conflating aging with accessibility. It is an increasingly global phenomenon that societies promote the notion of youth as the preferred state. 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. 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, if considered users at all, are offered little more than fall alarms, activity monitors, and senior-friendly versions of existing tools.