From the Inside Looking Out: Competing Ideas About Growing Old

Written from the perspective of older persons, this book puts forth the notion that these voices are as important and as necessary as those of a gerontologist’s when documenting the aging experience. There are a number of contradictions between the “realities” of aging produced by professionals and the subjective experiences of older persons as they live their everyday lives. The authors began with collecting literature about aging and for aging populations. They then conducted a series of focus groups and used questionnaires in an attempt to supplement the published information. Personal stories provide depth to the contrast between what it means to grow older and what is really experienced. These stories are generously dispersed throughout the text and come from a number of different perspectives, including Black and Mi’k Maq communities.

The authors seek to overcome the “us” and “them” dichotomy that characterizes much of the literature on aging. By asking older people to talk of their experiences and treat this information as holding value, the authors have presented a tool that can be used to begin such a process.

Jeanette Auger is a professor emeritus of sociology at Acadia University, where she taught full-time for more than forty years and still teaches two online courses. She has written or co-authored nine books, most in the field of gerontology/aging and queer studies. As well as her teaching and research experience, she has also worked in a variety of capacities as a community development researcher and volunteer, specifically in organizations which provide services and programs to older people and their important ones. She was one of the founders of the Valley Hospice Society and chaired the board of a multi-complex seniors facility in the Annapolis Valley. Her work is intended to assist older people and those who are dying because her philosophy is that we all study and try to assist in our own aging.

Diane Tedford-Litle is a women’s activist and former palliative care volunteer with the Victorian Order of Nurses in Nova Scotia. She has volunteered with a number of organizations including the Seniors Network, the Hospice Consultation Committee and the Gerontology Association of Nova Scotia.