We are also in a period where we can acknowledge that people exist on a spectrum and people change. My youngest son has ADHD, we got him treatment, support and flexible learning arrangements that mean 99.9% of the time he can be a “regular” kid with a “regular” life. When I was his age it was just drug them, pack them into the special class and forget about them. As much as I agree with your sentiment we do live in slightly enlightened times.

We assume elderly people are going to struggle with people taking advantage of them in so many other aspects of life, why do we let the media and politicians get away with it?

To be clear, I am not advocating for stripping anyone’s rights, or giving them a lessened voting weight. I don’t actually have a solution. I just think it’s the sort of thing a mature democracy would be able to discuss in good faith. Instead we get to be told about how much privacy and personal sovereignty we want to sacrifice in the name of “won’t somebody think of the children”.

Stated by someone who obviously has ample quantities of both. I’m not as sharp as I was a decade ago, or two decades ago for that matter. I can see the decline and I am only in my 40s. If you can’t say the same then congratulations.

Oh she has dementia alright, early stages, hence the reference to the Gerontologist. Specifically a doctor who manages conditions with a high association with age. I am not saying that everyone in a certain age bracket has it, just using an example. But let me be clear, someone retaining full capacity of their mental faculties into their twilight years is simply not common enough to be statistically worth talking about. I have worked in industries that intersect with the elderly and know that special provisions have to be made. I also agree that young people are not doing an amazing job of demonstrating competency. But pretending the accumulated wisdom of 70+ years somehow offsets the decline in neuroplasticity is disingenuous at best. I would suggest talking to some people in aged care and asking them how often their clients/patients are the model of rationality and reason.

I have a few people round me that are in the 60-83 age range. I gotta tell you aging is a heart breaking bitch.

My Nan can’t remember what she ate for breakfast, she keeps breaking her TV and then demanding that we buy her a new one to replace it.

So we set it up for her and within a couple of hours she is confused, scared and upset. Demands we take it away and that we get her old TV fixed.

The local repair guys have said they can no longer buy parts for the 720P No name LCD that she actually knows how to use. So next time it breaks we are in for a world of pain.

She is more irrational, scared and confused than at any point in her life before now. Also more opinionated and convinced that she is right (in between the meltdowns when she realises what she has lost).

Her vote counts for everybit as much as mine does. Until we get her gerontologist to complete an AEC exemption application and send it in at least.