WE ARE NOW THEY: OLD GERONTOLOGISTS LIVING IN AGE-SEGREGATED HOUSING

This symposium uses personal narratives to explore the perspectives of four retired, long term gerontological researchers (ages 70+ - 90+) on their current lives in some form of senior housing community. Each presenter narrates particular elements of her/his experience of living in an age-segregated community – as each one mediates personal experience on the basis of lifelong professional research, theory, practice, and developing wisdom. Like most of “us” conference attendees, these presenters have all spent their careers studying and writing about diverse aspects of aging adults (“Them”). Now the presenters are also “Them.” Wyatt-Brown describes living in a CCRC, where residents must actively struggle against being invisible to staff. Campbell examines multiple aspects identity when living, suddenly, in CCRC in a wholly new city. Moss and Moss focus more explicitly on using particular gerontological theories to meet the challenges of living in a retirement commmunity. Co-chair/discussant Kivnick suggests additional gerontological theories as relevant to these three sets of experience. She also identifies common themes and unique issues for potential study, and highlights contributions that these and other path breaking gerontologists can make to our field’s understanding and society’s optimal structuring of this part of the experience of later life. Discussant Sodei broadens the session by looking at the presentations and their issues through the lens of Japanese gerontological practice and policy.