1. Disability Studies and Aging

2. Today  Gerontology and disability versus disability studies and aging  Important parallels between both disciplines  Loneliness in older persons with intellectual disabilities

3. Gerontology and disability  No attention for disabled people  Disturbing strains of ableism  ‘Decline and loss’ and ‘biomedical’ paradigms  Counteractions: equating old age with disability is ageism  Critical gerontology: this caused distancing from disability  Dialectical vision of aging missing

4. Disability studies and aging  Research and theory on aging are scarce  Comments from critical gerontology scholars  Tendency to distinguish disability from aging

5. Intersection  Critique on medical and individual accounts of disability and aging  Overcoming paradigm  Disability studies and critical gerontology  Political economy and social constructionism  Individual narratives and lived experience

6. Persons with intellectual disabilities in this intersection  Lowest ranks in hierarchy of disability  Remain marginalized within social model  Impairments are viewed as cause of disablement  Not included in gerontology research and theory

7. Aging in persons with intellectual disabilities  Increased life expectancy  Many gaps in knowledge on this population  Concerns on quality of social networks  Risk on social isolation

8. Gerontology and disability studies on loneliness  Important area of research in gerontology  Basic fact in modern society  Identified as a problem associated with old age  Limited research in disability studies despite important observations

9. Loneliness in people with intellectual disabilities  Social networks are very narrow  Indications for prevalence of loneliness  Generational differences  Work to be done

10. Conclusion  Gerontology scarcely encompassed experiences of disabled people  Not enough attention for aging in disability studies  People with intellectual disabilities are overlooked within both disciplines  Aging in this population applies to both fields  Further collaboration is necessary  Loneliness can only be fully understood in this intersection

11. Today  Gerontology and disability versus disability studies and aging  Important parallels between both disciplines  Loneliness in older persons with intellectual disabilities