'Solo agers' are a growing group. Changes that would help them could help everyone
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But Gerhardt says this isn't an intractable problem. "Let's look at designing the system, or re-designing the system, so that anyone and everyone can have strong support. Quite honestly that benefits everyone," she says, citing curb cuts as a good example of this. Disability rights advocates fought for years to have towns and cities install curb cuts — a slope from the sidewalk to the street that lets a wheelchair user cross the road easily and safely. But curb cuts quickly became popular with people pushing strollers, bikers, and anyone else seeking an easier way into the street.

Building services for the future

Sara Zeff Geber has been writing and speaking about solo aging for more than 10 years, including giving talks to lawyers and financial planners, "to bring awareness to the fact that not everybody is a couple and not everybody has that proverbial adult daughter to help them."

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