Marketing

 I was taking part in a one-on-one marketing survey, which I thought would be interesting to do. The young lady sat me down, I put on the special glasses I was to wear and then went and completed the task she asked me to do. When I had finished she said that I would have a number of questions to answer about the task. So, I sat down at the I pad and started to read the questions, when she asked me, "Do you know how to use an Ipad" I said I did. 

During the time I was answering the questions she must have asked about 5 times if I knew how to use the I pad, and I kept saying yes. She was surprised that I knew how to use this type of computer. At one point, she asked me if I used a hearing aid, and I said yes. She asked me a number of questions about my hearing aid, so I finally asked her if she had a hearing problem. She said, no her mom did and they were looking for a good place to get a hearing aid. I recommended COSTCO as they were where I bought mine and they had the best price. 

As we went through the survey, I realized that the young lady was surprised at the ease at which I used the computer and answered the questions, and I put it down to ageism. She was, in my opinion, not used to seeing older people use a computer well, so she assumed that we could not use them. She was very nice but she had this bias towards older people that she herself was not aware of and for that I felt sorry for her.

Ageism

 The following is from the Lancet, published in March 2021.

On March 18, 2021, the Global Report on Ageism was launched by WHO, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the UN Population Fund. Combating ageism is one of the four action areas of the Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030). Changing how we think, feel, and act towards age and ageing is a prerequisite for successful action on healthy ageing and for progress on the three other action areas of the Decade of Healthy Ageing: developing communities that foster older people's abilities, delivering person-centred integrated care and primary health services responsive to older people's needs, and providing long-term care for older people who need it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of many older people, it has also exposed ageism in different settings—eg, discrimination in access to health care, inadequate protection of older people in care homes and of young people's mental health, and stereotypical media portrayals that pit generations against each other.

Consensus on the meaning of ageism has remained elusive and there is insufficient evidence on the topic. The Global Report on Ageism highlights that ageism can be institutional, interpersonal, or self-directed and summarises the best evidence on the scale, impacts, and determinants of ageism against both older and younger people and the most effective strategies to address ageism. Ageism is an important social determinant of health that has been largely neglected until now.

Like all forms of discrimination, ageism generates divisions and hierarchies in society and influences social position on the basis of age. Ageism results in various harms, disadvantages, and injustices, including age-based health inequities and poorer health outcomes.

Globally, ageism affects billions of people: at least one in two people hold ageist attitudes against older adults, with rates much higher in lower-income countries. In Europe, the only region for which data about ageism are available for all age groups, one in three people have experienced ageism.

Ageism impacts all aspects of older people's health. For instance, it shortens their lifespan, worsens their physical and mental health, hinders recovery from disability, and accelerates cognitive decline.1 Ageism also exacerbates social isolation and loneliness and reduces access to employment, education, and health care, all of which impact health.

As the Global Report on Ageism shows, ageism places a heavy economic burden on individuals and society, including in health-care costs. Annually, ageism accounts for US$1 in every $7—or $63 billion—spent in the USA on health care for the eight conditions with the highest health-care costs among people aged 60 years and older.12

The evidence reviewed in the report shows that three strategies are effective to reduce ageism: policy and law, education, and inter generational contact interventions. Policy and law can address discrimination and inequality on the basis of age and protect human rights. Educational interventions across all levels of education can correct misconceptions, provide accurate information, and counter stereotypes. Inter generational contact interventions are among the interventions that work best to reduce ageism against older people and could also have a role in combating ageism against younger people.

The Global Report on Ageism makes three recommendations for concrete actions that all stakeholders can take to combat ageism. First, invest in effective strategies to prevent and respond to ageism. Second, fund and improve data and research to better understand ageism and how to address it. Third, build a movement to change the narrative around age and ageing. The promise of the Decade of Healthy Ageing can only be fully realised if ageism is recognised as a social determinant of health and tackled.

Competence and ageing

Multiple definitions of “competence” are used in the literature, including capable, skillful and intelligent. It is often examined in conjunction with “warmth”, as these are the two core dimensions of social judgement and stereotype content theories used by some researchers. Competence stereotypes are a challenge to untangle because studies use varied definitions and stereotypes frequently overlap. Being seen as less competent has implications for older job candidates competing with younger candidates, even when an older candidate may simultaneously be seen as warm. An older worker’s ability to innovate (relating to idea implementation) is a factor in project managers’ perceptions of their competence. A large, multi-country study in Europe found that older workers are more satisfied with their jobs when they live in a country that views older workers as competent

 Ageism has been identified as one of five challenges facing older Canadians in the labour force.Ageism may occur as an age-based stereotype: or as a mechanism to judge others quickly. Stereotypes arise from societal culture and our experiences with members of stereotyped groups. Entrenched stereotypes about older workers are possibly due to implicit attitudes…assumed to have developed over an individual’s lifetime. Paternalistic attitudes are often reflected in stereotypes about older adults being warm, good-natured, sincere and happy, but barely competent. Since society holds negative perceptions of age and ageing, negative attitudes towards older workers may be rooted in a broader context associating age with decline.

Age-based stereotyping

 Did you ever come across age-based stereotyping when you wee working? Back when I was in my 30’s and was department head, I had some older people in my department. I was skeptical from time to time about their ability to do the job. I did not realize that I was skeptical because I was practising age-based stereotyping. I questioned their competence, not based on anything substantial but because of their age. I did it without thinking and without any knowledge of the motivation behind my thinking. I was, in my 30’s an ageist which is wrong, but it took me a long time to realize my fault.

Ageism is rooted in how we perceive age and ageing. There is research that suggests that across cultures and continents, young adults (those most often identified as having ageist attitudes) hold remarkably similar perceptions of ageing; that is, there is an increase in wisdom but a decline in the ability to perform everyday tasks or competence. This was true for me, the older people I worked with I thought had skills, and knowledge, but lacked the ability to do the job every day.

Many studies identify competence as a common negative stereotype about older workers. This stereotypical view of older workers being less competent than younger workers (under 29) is held by young adults, human resources professionals, and other workers with a mean age of 35.

Age-based stereotyping in the workplace is complex. Stereotypes can and do occur at three different levels: individual, organizational and societal. Individual-level stereotypes about older workers’ competence, adaptability (most often associated with technology and learning) and warmth (meaning sincere, kind, or trustworthy) are most common.

Often, the image of an older worker combines both positive and negative stereotypes. For example, older workers have been described both as “warm” but resistant to change or lacking adaptability. Individual-level stereotypes also include assumptions about older workers’ health and work-life balance.

The World Health Organization in 2018 defined Ageism as the stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination against people on the basis of their age. Although all age groups may face negative age-based perceptions, ageism towards older adults has been described as most tolerated form of social prejudice.

The decade of Healthy Ageing

Age is one of the first things we notice about other people. Some notice a person’s eyes, or the hair or lack of it, some of us notice the way a person stands. We use these first impressions to make judgements or to put people into categories. Most of us have learned not to judge a person by the colour of their skin, but we have not yet learned not to judge a person because of their age. Ageism arises when age is used to categorize and divide people in ways that lead to harm, disadvantage and injustice and erode solidarity across generations.

Ageism is not just a problem for the elderly. Ageism takes on different forms across the life course. A teenager might, for instance, be ridiculed for starting a political movement; both older and younger people might be denied a job because of their age.

The World Health Organization (WHO) was asked to start, with its partners, a global campaign to combat ageism. So, a Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health was launched in 2021. 2021 to 2030 is the Decade of Healthy Ageing, and I bet few of us know this.

The impact of ageism

My focus is on concerns of the Boomers so even though I understand that ageism is serious for youth, I will focus on ageism and seniors. Ageism has serious and far-reaching consequences for people’s health, well-being and human rights. For older people, ageism is associated with a shorter lifespan, poorer physical and mental health, slower recovery from disability and cognitive decline. Ageism reduces older people’s quality of life, increases their social isolation and loneliness (both of which are associated with serious health problems), restricts their ability to express their sexuality and may increase the risk of violence and abuse against older people.

For individuals, ageism contributes to poverty and financial insecurity in older age and one recent estimate shows that ageism costs society billions of dollars.

WHO has determined that there are three strategies to reduce ageism that have been shown to work:

Policy and law

Policies and laws can be used to reduce ageism towards any age group.

They can include, for example, policies and legislation that address age discrimination and inequality and human rights laws. Strengthening policies and laws against ageism can be achieved by adopting new instruments at the local, national or international level and by modifying existing instruments that permit age discrimination. This strategy requires enforcement mechanisms and monitoring bodies at the national and international levels to ensure effective implementation of the policies and laws addressing discrimination, inequality and human rights.

Educational interventions

Educational interventions to reduce ageism should be included across all levels and types of education, from primary school to university, and informal and non-formal educational contexts.

Educational activities help enhance empathy, dispel misconceptions about different age groups and reduce prejudice and discrimination by providing accurate information and counter-stereotypical examples.

Intergenerational contact interventions

Investments should also be made in intergenerational contact interventions, which aim to foster interaction between people of different generations.

Such contact can reduce intergroup prejudice and stereotypes. Intergenerational contact interventions are among the most effective interventions to reduce ageism against older people, and they also show promise for reducing ageism against younger people.

Dancing and Ageism

Every two weeks, on a Saturday night, we go out with another couple for dinner, and then we usually go for a special coffee. We have fun and enjoy their company and we laugh and we always find things to talk about. Every time we go, my wife wonders what we will talk about but we always find something to talk about, sometimes we talk of family, sometimes we talk of music, sometimes the talk drifts to grandchildren. 

We have a nice routine, so we were surprised when the other couple suggested that we not go for special coffee, but go to the local Legion. We thought it would be a great idea, so we went. The Legion has a different band play every Saturday. The band was very good and it played the kind of music that made everyone want to get up and dance.

Now my wife and I have taken dance lessons and when we were younger we were pretty good dancers, or so I thought. As we sat having our special coffee, the dance floor filled and we were amazed at the skill level of the dancers. I said to my wife, they all look like they are professionals, or at least have just come from a dance class. Needless to say, I was intimidated and decided that I would watch and my wife and the other couple had the same idea.

We were very impressed by the level of the dancers. Now they were not young, I am in my early 70's and all of the dancers looked older than me. The dance floor rocked and the dancers were having a great time when the bandleader said it was time for a line dance number. Within one minute ever dancer was in line and the line performed like a well-rehearsed chorus line. As the dance continued, this lady moved to the front of the line and it was very evident within a few minutes that all of the other dancers were taking their cues from her. She had energy and spirit and was a delight to watch. When the song was over, she went and sat down, and the people at the next table said to us, she is doing pretty good for a 96-year-old. 

We all looked at each other and nodded, and I realized that I was shocked at how old she was and how well she did on the dance floor. As I thought about my reaction, I realized that I was being ageist. I had judged this woman on her age and because she was older than I thought I wondered how she did it. 

I should not have let my ideas about how a 90+ person should act, influence my ideas about how well she danced. She was doing what I hope I will be doing at 90+ having fun and not caring what others think. 

Ageism

I don't usually post writing from others but this was sent to me by a cousin and I thought I would share. 

A one-woman assault on condescension.

The insults of age had been piling up for so long that I was almost numb to them. The husband (when I still had one): “You’re not going out in that sleeveless top?” The grandchild: “Nanna, why are your teeth grey?” The pretty young publisher tottering along in her stilettos: “Are you right on these stairs, Helen?” The flight attendant at the boarding gate: “And when you do reach your seat, madam, remember to stow that little backpack riiiight under the seat in front of you!” The grinning red-faced bloke who mutters to the young man taking the seat beside me: “Bad luck, mate.” The armed child behind the police station counter unable to conceal her boredom as I describe the man in a balaclava, brandishing a baton, who leapt roaring out of the dark near the station underpass and chased me and my friend all the way home: “And what were you scared of? Did you think he might hit you with his umbrella?”

Really, it is astonishing how much shit a woman will cop in the interests of civic and domestic order.

But last spring I got a fright. I was speaking about my new book to a university lecture theatre full of journalism students. I had their attention. Everything was rolling along nicely. Somebody asked me a question and I looked down to collect my thoughts. Cut to the young lecturer’s face surprisingly close to mine. “Helen,” he murmured, “we’re going to take you to the medical clinic.” What? Me?

Apparently, in those few absent moments, of which I still have no memory, I had become confused and distressed; I didn’t know where I was or why I was there. He thought I might be having a stroke.

The rest of that afternoon I lay at my ease in an Emergency cubicle at the Royal Melbourne, feeling strangely light-hearted. I kept thinking in wonder, I’ve dropped my bundle. All scans and tests came up clear. Somebody asked me if I’d ever heard of transient global amnesia. I was home in time for dinner.

Next morning I took the hospital report to my GP. “I’ve been worried about you,” she said. “It’s stress. You are severely depleted. Cancel the rest of your publicity tour, and don’t go on any planes. You need a serious rest.” I must have looked sceptical. She leant across the desk, narrowed her eyes, and laid it on the line: “Helen. You. Are. 71.”

I went home and sulked on the couch for a week, surveying my lengthening past and shortening future.

I had known for years, of course, that beyond a certain age women become invisible in public spaces. The famous erotic gaze is withdrawn. You are no longer, in the eyes of the world, a sexual being. In my experience, though, this forlornness is a passing phase. The sadness of the loss fades and fades. You pass through loneliness and out into a balmy freedom from the heavy labour of self-presentation. Oh, the relief! You have nothing to prove. You can saunter about the world in overalls. Because a lifetime as a woman has taught you to listen, you know how to strike up long, meaty conversations with strangers on trams and trains.

But there is a downside, which, from my convalescent sofa, I dwelt upon with growing irritation. Hard-chargers in a hurry begin to patronise you. Your face is lined and your hair is grey, so they think you are weak, deaf, helpless, ignorant and stupid. When they address you they tilt their heads and bare their teeth and adopt a tuneful intonation. It is assumed that you have no opinions and no standards of behaviour, that nothing that happens in your vicinity is any of your business. By the time I had got bored with resting and returned to ordinary life, I found that the shield of feminine passivity I had been holding up against this routine peppering of affronts had splintered into shards.

One warm December evening, a friend and I were strolling along Swanston Street on our way out to dinner. The pavement was packed and our progress was slow. Ahead of us in the crowd we observed with nostalgic pleasure a trio of teenagers striding along, lanky white Australian schoolgirls in gingham dresses and blazers, their ponytails tied high with white ribbons.

One of the girls kept dropping behind her companions to dash about in the moving crowd, causing mysterious jolts and flurries. Parallel with my friend and me, an Asian woman of our age was walking by herself, composed and thoughtful. The revved-up schoolgirl came romping back against the flow of pedestrians and with a manic grimace thrust her face right into the older woman’s. The woman reared back in shock. The girl skipped nimbly across the stream of people and bounded towards her next mark, a woman sitting on a bench – also Asian, also alone and minding her own business. The schoolgirl stopped in front of her and did a little dance of derision, flapping both hands in mocking parody of greeting. I saw the Asian woman look up in fear, and something in me went berserk.

In two strides I was behind the schoolgirl. I reached up, seized her ponytail at the roots and gave it a sharp downward yank. Her head snapped back. In a voice I didn’t recognise I snarled, “Give it a rest, darling.” She twisted to look behind her. Her eyes were bulging, her mouth agape. I let go and she bolted away to her friends. The three of them set off at a run. Their white ribbons went bobbing through the crowd all the way along the City Square and up the steps of the Melbourne Town Hall, where a famous private school was holding its speech night. The whole thing happened so fast that when I fell into step beside my friend she hadn’t even noticed I was gone.

Everyone to whom I described the incident became convulsed with laughter, even lawyers, once they’d pointed out that technically I had assaulted the girl. Only my 14-year-old granddaughter was shocked. “Don’t you think you should have spoken to her? Explained why what she was doing was wrong?” As if. My only regret is that I couldn’t see the Asian woman’s face at the moment the schoolgirl’s head jerked back and her insolent grin turned into a rictus. Now that I would really, really like to have seen.

By now my blood was up. At Qantas I approached a check-in kiosk and examined the screen. A busybody in uniform barged up to me, one bossy forefinger extended. “Are you sure you’re flying Qantas and not Jetstar?” Once I would have bitten my lip and said politely, “Thanks. I’m OK, I think.” Now I turned and raked him with a glare. “Do I look like somebody who doesn’t know which airline they’re flying?”

A young publicist from a literary award phoned me to deliver tidings that her tragic tone indicated I would find devastating: alas, my book had not been short-listed. “Thanks for letting me know,” I said in the stoical voice writers have ready for these occasions. But to my astonishment she poured out a stream of the soft, tongue-clicking, cooing noises one makes to a howling toddler whose balloon has popped. I was obliged to cut across her: “And you can stop making those sounds.”

After these trivial but bracing exchanges, my pulse rate was normal, my cheeks were not red, I was not trembling. I hadn’t thought direct action would be so much fun. Habits of a lifetime peeled away. The world bristled with opportunities for a woman in her 70s to take a stand. I shouted on planes. I fought for my place in queues. I talked to myself out loud in public. I walked along the street singing a little song under my breath: “Back off. How dare you? Make my day.” I wouldn’t say I was on a hair-trigger. I was just primed for action.

I invited an old friend to meet me after work at a certain city bar, a place no longer super-fashionable but always reliable. We came down the stairs at 4.30 on a Friday afternoon. Her silver hair shone in the dim room, advertising our low status. The large space was empty except for a small bunch of quiet drinkers near the door. Many couches and armchairs stood in appealing configurations. We walked confidently towards one of them. But a smiling young waiter stepped out from behind the bar and put out one arm. “Over here.” He urged us away from the comfortable centre of the room, with its gentle lamps and cushions, towards the darkest part at the back, where several tiny cafe tables and hard, upright chairs were jammed side-on against a dusty curtain.

I asked, “Why are you putting us way back here?”

“It’s our policy,” he said, “when pairs come in. We put them at tables for two.”

Pairs? Bullshit. “But we don’t want to sit at the back,” I said. “There’s hardly anybody here. We’d like to sit on one of those nice couches.”

“I’m sorry, madam,” said the waiter. “It’s policy.”

“Come on,” said my pacific friend. “Let’s just sit here.”

I subsided. We chose a slightly less punitive table and laid our satchels on the floor beside us. With tilted head and toothy smile the waiter said, “How’s your day been, ladies?”

“Not bad, thanks,” I said. “We’re looking forward to a drink.”

He leant his head and shoulders right into our personal space. “And how was your shopping?”

That was when I lost it.

“Listen,” I said with a slow, savage calm. “We don’t want you to ask us these questions. We want you to be cool, and silent, like a real cocktail waiter.”

The insult rolled off my tongue as smooth as poison. The waiter’s smile withered. Then he made a surprising move. He put out his hand to me and said pleasantly, “My name’s Hugh.”
I shook his hand. “I’m Helen. This is Anne. Now, in the shortest possible time, will you please get two very dry martinis onto this table?”

He shot away to the bar. My friend with the shining silver hair pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at me. We waited in silence. Soon young Master Hugh skidded back with the drinks and placed them before us deftly, without further attempts at small talk. We thanked him. The gin worked its magic. For an hour my friend and I talked merrily in our ugly, isolated corner. We declined Hugh’s subdued offer of another round, and he brought me the bill. He met my eye. Neither of us smiled, let alone apologised, but between us flickered something benign. His apparent lack of resentment moved me to leave him a rather large tip.

On the tram home I thought of the young waiter with a chastened respect. It came to me that to turn the other cheek, as he had done, was not simply to apply an ancient Christian precept but also to engage in a highly sophisticated psychological manoeuvre. When I got home, I picked up Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead where I’d left off and came upon a remark made by Reverend Ames, the stoical Midwestern Calvinist preacher whose character sweetens and strengthens as he approaches death: “It is worth living long enough,” he writes, in a letter to the son born to him in his old age, “to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire.”

I take his point. But my warning stands. Let blood technicians look me in the eye and wish me good morning before they sink a needle into my arm. Let no schoolchild in a gallery stroll between me and the painting I’m gazing at as if I were only air. And let no one, ever again, under any circumstances, put to me or any other woman the moronic question, “And how was your shopping?”

HELEN GARNER

Helen Garner is an award-winning novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Her books include Monkey Grip, The Children’s Bach, The Spare Room and This House of Grief.

Age of Ageing Teach your children young

The best age is the age  you are." Louis Armstrong

The following is inspired by an article  Addressing Ageism written by Susan V. Bosak

This is the Age of Aging. It's the first time in history in which human beings can reasonably expect to live even close to what we presently think of as the entire lifespan, and there are more of us older people than ever before.

Today, a Canadian at birth is expected to live 80 years compared to 47 years in 1900 – an additional 33 years. Centenarians are actually the fastest-growing age group in the country. Card companies now even make special birthday cards for people who reach this magical age.

Ageing is not optional. We are all, in fact, ageing from the moment we are born. That's life. The problem is that we all tend to have a negative attitude toward growing old, assign negative characteristics like unattractiveness and illness to being old, do not perceive anything positive about being old, and tend to prefer the company of the young and have limited contact with and knowledge of older people. I thought that I prefer the company of people my age, but I did a preference test and found out that I actually prefer to be with young people, which was a bit of a surprise to me.


I know we can't stay young forever. Ageing is as natural as the changing seasons. Advertising is full of age-defying and age-correcting products, which promise unending happiness, social mobility, or the transformation of women, in particular, from being old and undesirable to being young and desirable. 

Because older people are more numerous, more affluent, and better educated than ever before, this demographic shift may work to change attitudes toward aging. As an educator, I believe that education is key – both from the perspective of more people understanding ageing and from the perspective of how people will be when they become old. The more educated a person is, the more resources they have, and the more likely they are to be healthy, cognitively active, productive, and have a level of meaning and contentment in their life.

Why should children care about aging? Children's chances (in a developed nation) of surviving to a very old age are greater than at any time in history. They need to know how to live out that life as healthy, productive, effective individuals. They need to prepare to live their entire lifespan. Young people educated about aging are more likely to live a healthy lifestyle and maximize their chances of living long and living well. This obviously has benefits for the individual, as well as reduces the health care burden on society. 

The question isn't really whether children should learn about aging – because they are learning about aging and a multitude of other things whether we consciously teach them or not – but what they should learn about the lifelong process we call growing up and getting older.

Even before the age of five years, research shows children may have already internalized ideas that lead to ageism (age prejudice/stereotypes) and gerontophobia (fear of ageing). Most children say they don't want to get "old." They express fears that if they were old, life wouldn't be much fun and they would soon die (keep in mind that for children, "old" is anyone over 30!). 

Grandparents are living, breathing models of older adulthood and ageing. Bringing grandparents, and other older adults, into schools, opens the door to exploring life course and ageing issues with children. Children at all age levels tend to have limited knowledge about older people. They just don't know that many older people. 

Some research has shown that children predominantly view older people as passive and not much fun to be with. At the same time though, they also express deep affection for older people. They evidently feel negatively about the physical and behavioral characteristics of age, but feel a positive affection toward specific older people. In other words, children love their grandparents – they just don't ever want to be like them! So intergenerational contact in itself is not enough. It's not enough to build a good relationship with "them." Children also need an educational component so that they come to see themselves as "them."

Many adults – teachers, parents, and grandparents – are not interested in aging and, in fact, must confront their own fears and stereotypes about aging and older adults. A Grandparents Day event can be an important first step in breaking down this barrier, opening dialogue, and building toward aging/life course education and intergenerational programs.


In general, we need to teach children about:

The Aging Process: Growing old is a natural part of human development; there are normal changes that come with aging; older people have certain needs and experience losses as well as gains; and it's important to develop ways to deal with realities like illness and death.

Issues Related to Aging: The myths and stereotypes about growing and being old; the economic, social, and psychological challenges of aging in our society; the isolation and segregation of many older adults; the current and historical role of older adults in our society; the roles and treatment of older people in other cultures and the values they reflect.

Older People as Individuals: The families, education, work, and life experiences of grandparents and other older adults; the contributions of older adults now and throughout history.

Connections Between Young and Old: Similarities and differences between young and old; what younger people can expect to do with and can expect from older people; how young and old can work together to address common needs; how being old is perceived by the young versus how it's perceived by the old; how we can look at our lives from a life course perspective and how each individual is unique.

Old School A clearinghouse for all things anti-ageism

You may have seen an ad circulating on YouTube and Facebook that suggests that Boomers don’t want young people to vote. This ad is ageist and appalling on so many levels it is hard to take count. First, older adults have children and grandchildren they love and have a stake in their future.

This divisive ad series for Hulu, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat feed into a disturbing narrative too,  unbelievably, disenfranchise older people by removing their right to vote at say, 70. According to an article in Time Magazine, The over-65 generation does not accurately represent our country, because they are overwhelmingly white and actually vote. So, unfortunately, we're going to have to bar them from voting.

In another article in the Canadian Magazine McLeans One proposal (large pdf file) mooted in philosophy circles over the past few decades is to disenfranchise the elderly—that is, eliminate the right to vote at age 70 or some other appropriate upper threshold. The idea is that once citizens reach a certain age, they will be less concerned with our social, political, and economic future than younger generations and much less likely to bear the long-term consequences of political decisions and policies. In that case, their votes ought to be discounted, or eliminated altogether, to ensure that the future is shaped by those who have a real stake in how it turns out. But would disenfranchising older citizens be fair?

This sort of campaign is, sadly, just the most recent example of ageism creeping into every aspect of modern life. Luckily, there’s some help online to combat it. Oldschool.info, the brainchild of anti-ageism activist and author Ashton Applewhite, is a new online clearinghouse of free and carefully vetted resources (like Senior Planet) to educate people about ageism and help dismantle it. The Oldschool.info website says it is a clearinghouse of free and carefully vetted resources to educate people about ageism and help dismantle it. You’ll find blogs, books, articles, videos, speakers, and other tools (workshops, handouts, curricula etc.) that are accessible to the general public. Our goal is to help catalyze a movement to make ageism (discrimination on the basis of age) as unacceptable as any other kind of prejudice. Old School is the brainchild of anti-ageism activist  Ashton Applewhite of This Chair Rocks, and it is an ongoing, interdisciplinary collaboration. If you have an ageism-related resource to contribute to OldSchool not about positive ageing or productive ageing or healthy ageing or conscious ageing or creative ageing, but explicitly focused on ageism please visit the webpage and share it.

Moving day

In November, my adopted daughter had to move because her landlord had sold her condo, she and her guy were given 2 months notice. However, three days before the move, November 27, the landlord said he had made a mistake and they needed to move out, not Dec 1 at noon as he had originally told them but November 30th at noon.

So, my wife and I agreed to help them pack the boxes and furniture they had into the truck they rented to store their furniture until Dec 3 when they could move into their new home. My wife, who had just finished a 6-week stint working on a play came town with a cold and was unable to help on that day. I was near the end of my cold so I was willing and able to help.

When I arrived, her brother was there and we waited for a while before Andy came with the truck. Once the truck was ready to be loaded up we started carrying out the boxes and the furniture. I noticed very quickly that Scott (the brother) started to help me by first saying that box is too heavy, here is a lighter one, and that continued with the furniture when Scott and Andy would not let me help carry the heavier furniture. At first, I was annoyed and then I became bemused. Andy and Scott were trying to be nice and they were trying to be thoughtful. In fact, they were practicing ageism. Ageism is defined as discrimination against persons of a certain age group. with a tendency to regard older persons as debilitated, unworthy of attention, or unsuitable for employment.  Here is my question, should I have said something about the ageism, other than what I did say which was, "I have no problem with lifting the heavier boxes or heavy furniture". Both comments were ignored, by the two younger men.

I was not upset at the attitude as it came from a place of respect and love, but it was annoying and if I had called them on it, I would have gotten blank stares. They would not have know what I was talking about, which is unfortunate. I talked to my friends and they said, yes it happened to them when they were asked to help others move. My brother who is one year younger than I am said he never asks his friends to help move because he is concerned about their health. I also remember when I was younger and I moved, Colleen's grandfather who, at the time, was about 60, helped. I remember making sure he did not have to lift the heavy boxes and also he did not lift any heavy furniture. 

Ageism is a major issue for seniors. Our Seniors Advocate Isobel MacKenzie says ageism is one of many issues that affect seniors worldwide. It can be as simple as complimenting a senior for going to the gym every day.

According to a Revera Report on Ageism, nearly two-thirds of Canadian seniors 66 years of age and older say they have been treated unfairly or differently because of their age. Ageism is a form of discrimination that society does not see, but hopefully will as more and more boomers become seniors.

Ageism in Canada

According to our Senior Advocate, "Ageism is one of the most pervasive forms of discrimination — and a lot of people are guilty of it. 

The following is from a report from Revera on Agism (pdf file) in Canada.  Despite an aging population, ageism is widespread in Canada. It is the most tolerated form of social prejudice when compared to gender– or race-based discrimination.

•      Six-in-ten (63%) seniors 66 years of age and older say they have been treated unfairly or differently because of their age

•      One-in-three (35%) Canadians admit they have treated someone differently because of their age; this statistic goes as high as 43% for Gen X and 42% for Gen Y

•      Half (51%) of Canadians say ageism is the most tolerated social prejudice when compared to gender- or race-based discrimination

•      Eight-in-ten (79%) Canadians agree that seniors 75 and older are seen as less important and are more often ignored than younger generations in society

•      Seven-in-ten (71%) agree that Canadian society values younger generations more than older generations • One-in-five (21%) Canadians say older Canadians are a burden on society

Ageism does not discriminate. It comes in many forms and from many different sources.

• Age discrimination towards seniors 66 and older comes primarily from younger people (56%). More than one-in-four (27%) seniors say they’ve experienced age discrimination from government and more than one-third (34%) from healthcare professionals and the healthcare system

•      Nearly nine-in-ten seniors 66 and older who encountered ageism from the government, attribute it to programs and policies that do not take into account the needs of older people

•      Nearly eight-in-ten seniors 66 and older who reported age discrimination in healthcare, said a healthcare professional had dismissed their complaints as an inevitable sign of aging

•      The three most common forms of age discrimination faced by Canadian seniors include:

§  being ignored or treated as though they are invisible (41%)

§  being treated like they have nothing to contribute (38%)

§  assuming that they are incompetent (27%)It’s clear that if we don’t address ageism as a societal issue now,

It will compound and become more entrenched as our population ages. Change however, won’t happen overnight, and it is not the exclusive responsibility of any one group. In collaboration and consultation with older people, individuals, organizations and policy makers all have a role to play in building an age-inclusive society. As individuals and as a society, we must shine a light on the issue of ageism. 

We need to recognize, call out and challenge the negative stereotypes and assumptions about aging and older people. Rather than make assumptions about an individual’s abilities or quality of life based on their age, we need to be open-minded, view aging with optimism and reach out to older adults as vibrant, important and valued contributors to society.

Organizations need to raise awareness of ageism and be active contributors to ending it. As employers, the value and significant contributions older workers can and do make should not be overlooked.

We also need to better understand and meet the diverse needs of older consumers – after all, they encompass a broad age range, and the needs of a 65-year-old may be quite different to those of an 85-year-old. Policy makers, both government and non-governmental agencies, need to collaborate and plan for an age-inclusive Canada.

Building on the work that governments are already doing, there needs to be continued focus on developing policies that enable people of all ages to have the choices they need to live their lives to the fullest. Canadians overall have a negative perception of aging.

•      89 per cent of Canadians associate aging with something negative like not being able to get around easily, losing independence or being alone

•      Gen Y and Gen X are the most likely to hold a negative perception of aging; they are the least likely to think people 75 and older are pleasant, independent or healthy, yet the most likely to describe them as grumpy. A further one-in-three describe them as dependent, sick or frail

Finally, the older you get, the more optimistic you are about aging.

•      While the majority of seniors 66 and older are optimistic about aging, the opposite is true of younger generations, specifically Gen Y’s and Gen X’s

•      Canadians 66 and older are the most likely to associate aging with something positive like having more time to do things they love and more time to spend with those they care about, as well as being wiser and more self-assured

•      Seniors 66 and older are the most likely to say “age is just a number” (41%) and approximately two-in-five say “you never stop living life to the fullest” (36%) and “the best is yet to come” (40%)