A More Complete Story of Aging: Age as Deficit and as Asset

My research career began focused on age-as-deficit; then, when studying productive aging, I moved to an age-as-asset perspective. I have come to another understanding of later life: deficits and assets exist within older adults and within the older population. We must tell the full and accurate story of aging and eliminate artificial limits curtailing engagement in life. Real limits exist as our bodies grow old; but powerful artificial limits are created by physical and social structures, policies, organizational practices, attitudes, expectations, and internalized beliefs about aging. If we eliminate artificial limits, we might handle real limits better, both individually and as a society.