PHILADELPHIA: Integrated Retirement Villages and Continuous Care Retirement Communities are missing the point in altering language a “smidgeon”, to “accommodate boomers”.
Boomers don’t recognize the need for any care, age restrictions are immaterial, and this generation won’t be herded by age.
So deleting the word “facilities” won’t advance interest in a place that is generationally perceived as a concentration camp, and calling the guards “concierges”, when they are still uniformed and acting like gate-keepers, doesn’t convince anyone.
The rest of the language changes are a joke.
Funeral businesses promote “meaningful events that celebrate life”, skilled nursing homes have become “care centers”, and “senior citizen” is out, as is “mature adult,” according to market research. “Elderly” has been deemed utterly cringe-worthy by boomers, though referring to someone as an “elder” carries a measure of respect and wisdom gained from a long life.
In one Pew Research report on social trends, few people identified gray hair and retirement as markers of old age. Most defined old age as not being able to live independently or drive.
A poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 45-year-olds consider those who are 61 as “old or middle-aged.” Yet people in their 70s or 80s tend to think of 61 as “young.”
That dichotomy has led some researchers to speak of the “young-old” and the “old-old” — not exactly the kinds of phrases that would turn a marketer’s head.
Much of the current terminology remains centered around disability and disease, in large part because of the way the government pays for health care services. Repurposing familiar terms often misses the mark, such as “adult day care.”
Language has become a barrier to services…