Editor’s note: This commentary is by Glenn Fay Jr., of Burlington, who is an entrepreneur, educator, husband and father.
[Y]ou are eminently qualified to notice ageism once you discover your gray hairs, strangers call you “dear” or “sir,” and the AARP membership invite appears in your mailbox! But turning 55+ is not entirely a golden years adventure. There can be strings attached that include comments such as “You look good for your age,” “You still have time,” “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” and so on. We also show bias against older Americans by using antiquated labels.
One of my colleagues, Marion, left her career at 60 to pursue other opportunities and stipulated, convincingly, that she wasn’t “retiring,” but rather just moving on to a new chapter. Marion, like many of us, was re-imagining work, pursuing learning, rejecting age segregation, and perhaps launching a business. But Marion was repeatedly labeled as “retiring” and she couldn’t shake the stigma.
Several years later, after announcing that I was leaving my job in the same organization, to “try something different,” the same thing happened to me. I was continually referred to as a “retiree” by my supervisors. Later, when perusing job opportunities, I noted that some local professional job listings preferred “recent college grads” and others promised that one could “be part of a young team.” These job listings intentionally discriminate based on age, and this is part of a pervasive pattern. About 64 percent of AARP members believe people over 50 are discriminated against in the workplace. This contradicts findings that age diversity in the workforce is a boon to innovation.
And sometimes age discrimination is more covert than language stereotypes. Outstanding veteran employees are passed over for new positions, and younger employees with little or no qualifications or experience are hired instead. Outstanding veteran employees are reassigned to adverse jobs that don’t match their skill set, or “put on a shelf,” as one of my colleagues says. A pattern of this behavior, even when characterized as unintentional, looks like micro-agression, the indirect, subtle discrimination of a marginalized group. Age discrimination takes its toll on older workers’ financial fitness and adds stress to their lives. But worse than that, the experts are sounding alarms about more serious impacts of ageism.
Negative views about aging can produce damaging health consequences for victims. Indeed, Yale researcher Becca Levy and colleagues found that older individuals with a positive self-perception of aging lived more than seven years longer than those who are less positive. Levy pointed to evidence that negative perceptions of aging from others can shorten our lifespans. Given that negative views about aging are pervasive, what can be done about age discrimination?
According to Ashton Applewhite, we need to understand and act on the harm that comes from negative stereotypes of aging. A movement to fight age bias would not just help today’s older workers. Applewhite says it will help younger workers, too. She says that even young people should recognize that we can all become an old person in training, since we are all aging, and will get there eventually. “Confronting ageism means making friends of all ages, and pointing out bias when you encounter it – like, when everyone at a meeting is the same age. It means joining forces across age groups – not seeing older people as alien and ‘other,’ but as us – our own future.”
Applewhite suggests catalyzing a social movement to raise awareness and transform the aging experience that would make age discrimination as unacceptable as racism and sexism. Instead of seeing aging as a problem to be fixed, we should see it as a powerful, natural lifelong process that connects us all. This might help to overcome the negative stereotypes and create more positive awareness.
Affirming acknowledgements of age include wise, spry, creative, confident, spiritual, experienced and empowered, to name a few. We see these traits all the time in older people and if we remind ourselves and promote these traits, aging can be more productive for everyone. And there is one more golden nugget in research on aging.
A strong sense of purpose is a fundamental factor in healthy aging. Purpose results in improved engagement and productivity within the family and community, and it correlates with better brain health. Dan Buettner found that centenarians share a sense of purpose. Others found that people with a high level of purpose were several times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
It’s not only a good idea to recognize, confront and combat ageism because Vermont’s population is getting older. We know that purposeful aging shows the capacity to change our lives and improve the world.
