> Yes, some elderly are disabled by mental decline or dementia, that's no different from a mental disability at any age.
If there were a clean way to define it, I'd probably be better to change:
- "elderly" to "individuals impacted by mental decline, dementia, or other disability;" and
- "children" to "people who haven't reached an adequate level of maturity to [long definition]."
The point is MOST elderly are impacted by mental decline or dementia by some age. That's often not the same as age-of-retirement. I know people where it happened at 60, and where it happened in their nineties.
Serious questions: You'll be a senior citizen soon enough, and maybe a decade later this will hit you too. What mechanisms would you like in place to be protected?
If and when it this hits you, there may be a long period where you'll be:
a) Functional (e.g. able to feed yourself, keep yourself clean, manage the house) and not needing care (e.g. nursing home);
b) Emotionally important to your relatives; and yet
c) Already vulnerable to predatory behaviour
What protective measures would you like to see in place during this period?
Footnote: In my current location, most people 80 and beyond are glued to some source of polarizing disinformation, be that Facebook or cable TV. Coincidentally, of the few I know better personally, some have empty bank accounts, since they can't manage their money properly any more. But they can cook, clean, shop, but not more complex things like that. It's not just outright scammers. It's predatory advertising, and all sorts of other predatory behaviour.