Are terms describing age-challenged individuals becoming pejorative in nature?

According to Joel Achenbach, The Rise of the Alpha Geezer, Washington Post, Sept. 9, 2007, at B03,

There are no old people anymore. The word “senior” is in disfavor; the folks at AARP often use the term “grown-up” to refer to our most tenured citizens. (And it’s not the American Association of Retired Persons anymore, either: The group decided that because most of its members weren’t retired, it should be just AARP, standing for nothing at all.) * * *

Disability rates for people over 65 go down by more than 2 percent a year, according to a long-term national survey published in 2006. The culture of being older has fundamentally changed, says Robert Butler, president of the International Longevity Center-USA and a professor of geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.