Ageism which results from prejudice and discrimination is sometimes called a form of
discrimination that is not noticed or not believed to be a major problem. Simply defined,it is
discriminating against a person due to their age. While ageism discrimination can relate to
young and old persons alike,for our purposes today, we will discuss ageism as it relates to
persons from say 50 to the end of their lives. It is maybe not surprising that a study found large percentages of persons believe they have experienced some form of ageism. It can be as obvious as bluntly telling a fully competent person they are too old to do a job or children
assuming their parents are incapable of making good decisions due to their age or talking to
them like they are children. Ageism can be broken into the following three broad categories:
1.Institutional Ageism 2.Interpersonal Ageism and 3.Internalized Ageism. Institutional Ageism
would include when persons are forced to retire by mandatory retirement rules or not given
promotions or educational opportunities due to their age. There also are complaints by patients that their well meaning doctors make medical decisions based on their age and not on their particular needs at this time. Interpersonal Ageism is when there are limiting assumptions that if
persons are a certain age they are losing their abilities to think and require support and help
even if they do not need it. The person may find it annoying and even demeaning but is forced
into accepting it. This often occurs when children feel the need to take over financial resources and responsibilities for their parents when they are not needed. This can lead to persons feeling shamed and powerless. Internalized Ageism is when persons themselves begin to believe they
are incompetent or incapable of doing things because of their age. They focus on what society
says they can and cannot do and internalize this. The sad thing is that research shows when
persons have these beliefs, they allow themselves to age more quickly, and do not have the
health and longevity of persons who do not look at the clock or a calendar and do what they feel
they are able to do as long as possible. A study in Germany found in a 15 year study that
persons who at 55 believed they were going to have problems as they aged, did in fact have far
more problems physically and emotionally than those who did not believe this when they all
turned 70. Their mortality rate was also higher…My advice is not to look at the calendar and do
whatever you feel you can do consistent with your capabilities. Do not let others tell you what
you can or cannot do. Live whatever time you have left on earth with gusto!