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I had the opportunity to take a social gerontology class a few years  
ago, that was mostly aimed at students who might be working with  
senior citizens, with an aging population, etc. But there were some  
really great resources the instructor brought in that made me realize  
how important it is to look at exhibits or programs from the point of  
view of a specific audience.

One of my favorite parts of the class was an exercise that was led by  
a woman from the local Council on Aging. We were handed out various  
set of glasses (that ranged from slightly scratched, to mostly  
blacked out) to simulate different vision problems. We put cotton  
balls in our ears. We tied a string around our ankles to impose a  
shorter gait. And we put on latex gloves to simulate the loss of  
touch sensitivity. In the context of the exercise (of us being in a  
senior "daycare", with a snotty, condescending "aide" to help us), I  
remember how frustrated I got very quickly. At being expected to sign  
a check when I couldn't even see the signature line, at being told to  
"hurry along" when I could only take steps that were a foot apart. It  
gave me a very different outlook on the point of view of a person  
with some physical challenges.

We also had an exercise that simulated the type of hearing loss that  
is common - not of overall volume decrease but of a decrease in  
hearing the upper frequencies (where consonant sounds hang out!).  
This meant that turning up a volume dial did nothing to increase  
comprehension. Just try figuring out what someone is saying if you  
can only hear vowels.

Other considerations that were brought up were to have adequate  
access to seating (for resting) and restrooms.

The last thing that comes to mind dealt with vision changes - that  
led to certain colors standing out less (again, not a problem of  
turning up a volume, because only certain frequencies were affected).  
This category also included leaving more time for dark-adaptation and  
light-adaptation (since the eyes get slower at this as we age), and  
planning times of day for certain programs because of decreased night  
vision (and a harder time driving at night).

Taken all together, these changes describe a person who may not even  
be up and about, but as a set of things to keep in mind, they may  
make a difference for aging visitors.

On a final (and maybe more positive) note, I did my term paper for  
the class on a researcher named Paul Baltes, who studied cognitive  
changes of aging brains. Although computational speed was decreasing  
on average, some of his research showed that wisdom was increasing  
with age for many people. How exactly to harness or engage an  
increasingly wise mind is a tough question, and I remember wondering  
how this might be taken advantage of with programs that looked at  
this aspect of human reasoning.

Audra Baleisis
Science Education Consultant
Flandrau Science Center
Tucson, AZ

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