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CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ
of older persons may vary even within a single society.
17
People also tend to associate
older age with certain features which may be both positive (wisdom, experience,
stability) and negative (health problems, dependence, frailty). Thus, while
“the ageing
process is /…/ a biological reality which has its own dynamic, largely beyond human
control”,
18
the definition of old age and older persons is socially constructed and
conditioned. Unlike certain other special groups, older persons do not exhibit any
in-born feature (sex, colour of the skin) that would easily tell them apart. Unlike
children, the other special group defined by age, older persons do not have at least
one clear determinant point in time (death not being a real equivalent to birth,
because while we all born as children, we do not all die as older persons). The group
to which older persons bear the strongest resemblance seems to be that of disabled
people, as the concept of disability is also socially constructed.
19
The uncertainty as to who older persons are translates into the plurality of terms
used to label them and the uncertainty as to which of these terms would be the most
appropriate in the legal discourse. In natural sciences, such as medicine and geriatrics,
the terms
elderly, old people/persons, and elders
are mostly in use. None of these terms,
however, seems suitable in the legal context.
20
The terms elderly and old people/
persons have negative connotations, suggesting frailty, inability or dependence. The
term elders may be misleading, because in addition to persons advanced in age, it also
denotes persons with special wisdom or spiritual or community leaders. The WHO
in its documents refers to
older adults.
This term, however,
“rolls off the tongue thickly
in a way that suggests a euphemism for something less comfortable, a reluctance to offend
perhaps”.
21
Next in row is the term
seniors,
which is common in the popular literature.
It is borrowed from the Latin
senior,
a comparative of
senex
which means old or
senior. Originally, it referred mainly to a social status and, in fact, it yielded titles of
respect in English (Sir) and in other languages (
sire
in French,
señor
in Spanish). This
meaning has been gradually abandoned and nowadays, the term mostly describes
people of a certain age. In some countries, however,
senior
gets a narrow meaning,
as it is reserved for people benefiting from certain social (governmental) programs.
In view of all these linguistic pitfalls, the term
older persons
seems the most suitable
(or the least unsuitable) for the legal vocabulary. This term is used in most UN
sources and progressively makes its way to official documents of other international
17
Thane, for instance, shows how in the 19
th
-early 20
th
European societies, the old age limit was construed
differently for women (45-55) and men (55-75), depending on the moment they typically underwent
a transition in their livelihood. THANE, Pat, The muddled history of retiring at 60 and 65,
New
Society,
Vol. 45, 1978, pp. 234-236.
18
GORMAN, Mark,
supra note 15,
cit. in WHO,
Definition of an older or elderly person, supra note 12.
19
See WENDELL, Susan,
The Rejected Body,
New York: Routledge, 1996 (especially chapter 2: The Social
Construction of Disability, pp. 57-72).
20
SCHMITT, Alex, “Elders?” “Older Adults?” “Seniors?” Language Matters,
GeriPal,
21 March 2012.
21
Ibid.