Proposal

I would like to be looking at the othered community of people typically categorized as "elderly." Obviously, to do this I will need to establish criteria for what places somebody in this category - therefore I am hoping some research will lead to me to a specific age grouping to pinpoint.
I believe that there are a lot of stereotypes that have become social norms and expectations regarding people considered to be elderly - often, I feel as if these are generalizations, and as individuals, these generalizations may not even apply. It's socially accepted to treat people who appear to be older as if they were almost back to infancy - speaking incredibly loudly and slowly seems to be done frequently without such speaking accommodations being requested, and as if they are not capable of performing tasks. I feel like many of the stereotypes that exist are so ingrained into our society that we don't even consider whether or not they are truthful.
I wanted to research this based on my own experiences and perceptions, and in hopes that I could shed some light on what is fact and what is fiction. I don't think research would be hard to accumulate, and I was hoping to locate some people to interview - we will see if my paper goes in a direction that interview dialogue would be supplemental, rather than distracting.