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Ageism is something that’s likely to affect everybody as they grow older and it should be treated as seriously as other “isms”, such as racism and sexism.
That was the main takeaway from a recent “Solutions to Combat Ageism” webinar, organised in New York by the Global Coalition on Ageing, which aims to educate and drive change to improve older people’s health, productivity and social engagement.
Panellists noted that governments, local authorities – and seniors themselves – must take steps to change public attitudes and stop this form of discrimination.
Older people can help to effect a cultural change, speakers said. Self-directed ageism, in which older people believe the stereotypes of growing old that they are bombarded with and thus develop a negative perception of ageing themselves, is part of the problem.
Illustration by Mia Feitel
Once, in the span of a single conversation, a friend nearly two decades older than I am and I realized we were both running out of time. I clearly was not going to have my life “figured out” by age 25 or 30 or whatever the appropriate marker is. While she was grappling with the sensation, spurned by a society that values youth as if it’s a moral high ground, that her work had less value the older she got. In both directions, our mutual realization highlighted a line of thought embedded in society: the best parts of our lives, selves, bodies, careers, and identities should be squished into a single decade, the narrow window between age 20 and 30 when we’re neither “too young” to understand or “too old” to be relevant. This fixation on “being young” aka in your twenties places timestamps on our worthiness that seem to decrease as the number of birthday candles on our cakes increase.
Trinity Spiritual Center to Host Internationally Recognized TED Talk Speaker on How Ageism Harms Us All Written by Kerry Anne Ducey
Eminent Writer, Activist, and Expert on Ageism Ashton Applewhite asks us to join a grassroots movement to raise awareness of ageism and to dismantle it
Trinity Spiritual Center will host an exclusive livestream event with the globe-trotting writer, activist, and expert on ageism, Ashton Applewhite, on Thursday, May 6
th at 7:30 PM. Ms. Applewhite will address a topic with universal relevance in a world of longer lives: How can we make age bias as unacceptable as any other form of prejudice? This special event is free and open to all.
Trinity Spiritual Center to Host Internationally Recognized TED Talk Speaker on How Ageism Harms Us All hamlethub.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hamlethub.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Trinity Spiritual Ctr to Host Speaker on Ageism Written by Trinity Spiritual Center
SOUTHPORT, CT – Trinity Spiritual Center will host an exclusive livestream event with the globe-trotting writer and expert on ageism Ashton Applewhite, on Thursday, May 6
th at 7:30 PM. Ms. Applewhite will address a topic with universal relevance in a world of longer lives: How can we make age bias as unacceptable as any other form of prejudice? The event is free and open to all.
The author of
This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, Applewhite is a leading thought leader recognized by many media outlets as an expert on ageism. In her view, age bias cuts work lives short, stunts our sense of self and place in the world, and harms our health. Further, she advances that attitudes towards aging affect how our minds and bodies function at the cellular level.