The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America
Ai-jen Poo · Ariane Conrad
Mar 2009 · New Press, The
Ebook
339
Pages
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About this ebook
One of Time’s 100 most influential people “shines a new light on the need for a holistic approach to caregiving in America . . . Timely and hopeful” (Maria Shriver).
In The Age of Dignity, thought leader and activist Ai-jen Poo offers a wake-up call about the statistical reality that will affect us all: Fourteen percent of our population is now over sixty-five; by 2030 that ratio will be one in five. In fact, our fastest-growing demographic is the eighty-five-plus age group—over five million people now, a number that is expected to more than double in the next twenty years. This change presents us with a new challenge: how we care for and support quality of life for the unprecedented numbers of older Americans who will need it.
Despite these daunting numbers, Poo has written a profoundly hopeful book, giving us a glimpse into the stories and often hidden experiences of the people—family caregivers, older people, and home care workers—whose lives will be directly shaped and reshaped in this moment of demographic change. The Age of Dignity outlines a road map for how we can become a more caring nation, providing solutions for fixing our fraying safety net while also increasing opportunities for women, immigrants, and the unemployed in our workforce. As Poo has said, “Care is the strategy and the solution toward a better future for all of us.”
“Every American should read this slender book. With luck, it will be the future for all of us.” —Gloria Steinem
“Positive and inclusive.” —The New York Times
“A big-hearted book [that] seeks to transform our dismal view of aging and caregiving.” —Ms. magazine
In The Age of Dignity, thought leader and activist Ai-jen Poo offers a wake-up call about the statistical reality that will affect us all: Fourteen percent of our population is now over sixty-five; by 2030 that ratio will be one in five. In fact, our fastest-growing demographic is the eighty-five-plus age group—over five million people now, a number that is expected to more than double in the next twenty years. This change presents us with a new challenge: how we care for and support quality of life for the unprecedented numbers of older Americans who will need it.
Despite these daunting numbers, Poo has written a profoundly hopeful book, giving us a glimpse into the stories and often hidden experiences of the people—family caregivers, older people, and home care workers—whose lives will be directly shaped and reshaped in this moment of demographic change. The Age of Dignity outlines a road map for how we can become a more caring nation, providing solutions for fixing our fraying safety net while also increasing opportunities for women, immigrants, and the unemployed in our workforce. As Poo has said, “Care is the strategy and the solution toward a better future for all of us.”
“Every American should read this slender book. With luck, it will be the future for all of us.” —Gloria Steinem
“Positive and inclusive.” —The New York Times
“A big-hearted book [that] seeks to transform our dismal view of aging and caregiving.” —Ms. magazine
About the author
Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and codirector of the Caring Across Generations campaign, is the winner of a 2014 MacArthur "genius" grant. In 2000, she cofounded Domestic Workers United. She was chosen for Newsweek's 150 Fearless Women list and Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.Emily Woo Zeller's multilingual, multicultural framework led to a natural fit as an audiobook narrator. While she specializes in Asian American narratives, Emily's work spans a broad spectrum, including young adult fiction. She won an AudioFile Earphones Award for her narration of Gulp by Mary Roach.
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