All of us get old if we are lucky, and disability is a natural part of human variation across the lifespan. Ability, indeed, is transient; no impenetrable boundary separates abled from disabled (Hansen, Janz, and Sobsey 2008). People move back and forth between ability and disability throughout their lives, depending on their physical and social environments. Consequently, they want and deserve respect regardless of their ability.

Oldfield, M., & Hansen, N. (2020). Power, agency, aging, and cognitive impairment: The stories of two women. In K. Aubrecht, C. Kelly, C. Rice (Eds.), The aging-disability nexus (pp. 130–144). UBC Press.