A consumer revolution requires a social revolution. We know that as time grows shorter, a sense of purpose becomes an ever-higher priority for olders. As Coughlin observes, “Culture helps determine what older people find meaningful. And that raises a question: can . . . new, socially permissible routes to meaning open up?”
Search Results for: ageism
What Will It Take to End Ageism? Part 1
Most Americans aren’t optimistic about getting older and think the source of the problem is aging itself. So do most policy wonks: they frame population aging as a set of choices about how to care for an avalanche of “frail…
Is Ageism Ever Funny?
How should I react when comedians on TV, or organizations I respect, make appallingly ageist jokes? I’m 83, so the joke’s on me. Should I object? I’ve been a fan of Saturday Night Live practically since the program first aired,…
Ending Ageism or How Not to Shoot Old People
If you’re not sure what ageism is, or you doubt that it does much harm, read this book.
Less Ageism = Less Dementia. It’s That Clear
What affliction do Americans fear most? Alzheimer’s disease. I’m one of them, but facts comfort me. Abundant new data shows that our fears are way out of proportion to the threat—and that those fears themselves put us at risk.
Bucking Ageism in Philanthropy
Five Organizations That Make Older People’s Lives EasierThere are a lot of problems in the United States. Take the fact that our country is aging. By 2035, Americans 65 and older will outnumber kids for the first time in our history…
The New Yorker’s Ageist Take on Ageism
I’m a lifelong New Yorker addict, so when I heard they were running a piece on ageism, I got excited. That was a mistake. Tad Friend’s article in the November 20th issue, “Why Ageism Never Gets Old,” is glib and…
The Workplace Needs #MeTooAgainstAgeism
The #MeToo movement is mainly about work situations, and so it should be. Being treated like a skirt—or a headless skirt, depending upon the level of vileness—by a male boss or peer can ruin a workplace…even a life.
Margaret Morganroth Gullette: Revolutionist against Ageism
A scholar takes on ageist violence in all its guisesAgeism did not end with the 20th century. But there were hopes. Feminism had brought changes for women, rights movements had brought changes for black people and disabled people, and the—well, there was no widespread, organized movement for older people.
Agewise: Fighting the New Ageism in America
Americans fear growing older but what we really should worry about is ageism—how entrenched, negative misconceptions about aging affect us from youth through our oldest years.
The Violence of Ageism
As the entire world now knows, Dr. David Dao is the passenger who was dragged off a United Airlines flight on April 9th (2017) by Chicago police, who broke his nose, gave him a concussion and smashed two of his teeth.
In the Fight against Bigotry, Where Does Ageism Fit In?
I wake these days remembering that something awful has happened. Reality assembles itself, and I feel worse. The multicultural, egalitarian, globalized society I hope to inhabit is under assault. Bigotry is ascendant. Racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance—pick your prejudice!—are sanctioned,…
Ageism
Action—Global and Local—against Ageism
October [2016] brought me two very different gigs—one on the world stage and one in a Brooklyn community center. The first was at the United Nations on October 6 to celebrate the 26th International Day of Older Persons. It was…
Six More Questions about My New Manifesto Against Ageism
Since the publication of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism (2016), I’ve been asked a lot of questions. Are you curious about why I’ve become an Old Person in Training?
Six Questions about My New Manifesto Against Ageism
Since the publication of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism (2016), I’ve been asked a lot of questions. Are you curious about why I find aging so damn interesting?
I’ll Have What She’s Having—Minus the Internalized Ageism
“There is also something profoundly liberating about aging,” Dominique Browning wrote in the New York Times.
Ageism – 1
How we think about getting older can drastically affect our emotional and physical health. Find out why.
Want Older People to Be Healthy? End Ageism
There’s a lot of disagreement around how to frame the last century’s unprecedented increase in human lifespan. Is it a crisis or an opportunity? Will a “grey tsunami” of incapacitated freeloaders sweep us off our feet, or will we tap…
Ageism – 2
Harmful stereotypes and discrimination are rampant in our society. Do you recognize ageism when you see or hear it?
Guess Who’s Confronting Ageism Now?
Ageism in Silicon Valley has been all over the news lately. “The Brutal Ageism of Tech,” a March 2014 feature story in the New Republic, noted that some male techies, still in their 20s, are contemplating Botox and hair transplants, while middle-aged engineers, a swelling cohort of “highly trained, objectively talented, surpassingly ambitious workers,” are being sidelined “for reasons no one can rationally explain.”
Why Ageism Matters
In 2007 I started interviewing people over 80 who were in the workforce. At the same time, I was reading and writing about longevity. To my surprise, the more I learned, the greater the discrepancy that emerged between my grim notion of late life and the lived reality.
Not ‘Old Enough to Die,’ Old Enough to Choose Wisely
Author and activist Barbara Ehrenreich has long been one of my heroes, and I imagine an affinity in our fondness for myth-busting. In her new book, Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer…
It’s Hard to Eat When You’re Holding Your Ears
A few weeks ago, I took my decibel meter with me to dinner at one of the restaurants in my retirement community. It was a busy night, and the steady growl of conversation kept rising to a roar. The meter…
Talk to Me
In my work as an independent living consultant, I support people who need a little extra help to stay secure in their homes. Most of my clients are older adults. Being a helper-bee at heart, I find the work very…
The Senior Mentor Home Visit Program: The Story behind the Grant
A project shows how to head off ageism in tomorrow’s young doctorsMaggie, 82, sits on a metal chair across from her new family doctor. “I’ve just been feeling tired lately,” she tells the young MD. “Well, no wonder!” the doc responds. “You’re 82!” Actually, Maggie—who does tai chi, volunteers at an…
Breaking the Age Barrier
How some people escape their age bubble to find friendsArt Russell, 60, counts at least a dozen 20-somethings as friends: the guys he fences with; a 26-year-old colleague at work; and several people who attend his church. Although he also has many friends his own age, Russell values those…
Shared Stigma, Separate Silos, Part 2
In my last post, I wrote about the regrettable tendency to act as though older people and people with disabilities form two separate groups. When groups within companies don’t share information or knowledge, it’s called a “silo mentality.” It reduces efficiency…
Ramping Up: The Problem That Went Deeper Than We Knew
Last year, it finally became obvious that we needed ramps at our summer cabin on Sawdy Pond. The architectural part was straightforward, but it turned out we needed self-examination and conviction to solve a deeper problem. The acres we own…
The Pros and Cons of Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids
Many years ago, my husband invented his own hearing aid. Mike was totally deaf on one side—the best hearing device in the world wouldn’t have helped his right ear.
Shared Stigma, Separate Silos, Part 1
People with disabilities come in all ages, and almost all of us encounter some change in physical or mental capacity as we grow old. Yet, as I wrote in an earlier blog, “We act as though old people never become disabled and…
All About Eve
One of the true classics of American cinema. This backstage drama is as tart and smart and relevant as it was during its initial release in 1950.
He Wants the Law to Change His Age
A 69-year-old man has petitioned the courts in the Netherlands for the right to say he’s 20 years younger than his actual age: he wants his birth certificate altered to show that he was born in 1949 rather than 1969.…
What’s Missing in Philanthropy?
Enough funding for efforts to help older people. Could that be ageism?Every year, American grantmakers donate tens of billions of dollars to nonprofits, to help make the world a better place. Yet only 1 percent of those dollars goes to aging-related projects…
Why It’s Just Fine to Fail at “Successful Aging,” Part 2
Part 1 of this series of blogs argues that, as a model for growing older, “successful aging” leaves ageism unchallenged or contributes to it. What else is problematic about “successful aging”? There are some insightful answers in a collection of…
Why It’s Just Fine to Fail at “Successful Aging,” Part 1
Eleven years ago I started a writing project about people over 80 who work. Upbeat! Inspirational! Safe! I didn’t realize it at the time, but it epitomized an approach that has dominated gerontology since the 1980s: “successful aging”—also known as…
Older Artists Keep Creating and Growing
But ageism raises obstacles for manyOpera star Plácido Domingo made his name as a tenor. …But now, at age 77, Domingo is a baritone.
Old-Lady Day
Ageism, according to the World Health Organization, is “the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age; ageism can take many forms, including prejudicial attitudes, discriminatory practices or institutional policies and practices that perpetuate stereotypical…
Is It Just Human Nature to Dread Aging?
Is ageism inevitable? Is it just plain human to dread old age—and to disparage older people? That’s the conclusion writer Tad Friend comes to in a New Yorker article called “Why Ageism Never Gets Old.” Friend’s article deftly describes how…
The Beauty Industry Is Shifting from Anti-Aging to Anti-Anti-Aging. So What?
The New York Times Magazine opens every Sunday with an essay about what a given word or phrase reveals about the moment. On September 17, 2017, the word was “anti-aging.” The line at the top of the print version read,…
Spiritual Support at the End of Life - Eric Markinson identified himself as a chaplain when he walked into the hospital room of a man he calls Tommy, who was dying of alcohol-related liver disease. “I don’t think you can help me much,” Tommy said. “I’m an atheist.”
Reaching Out for Help and Where to Find It - Bill gave very attentive care to his wife, Deborah, who had Alzheimer’s disease. Their son lived a couple of hours away and came to lend a hand every few weeks. Otherwise, Bill did everything himself. When I suggested he might…