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Ageism

Many senior groups, service providers, and academics in Canada have noted that ageism can be an important factor in senior abuse. (1) (2) (3)

What is Ageism?

Ageism is a social attitude. It is way of looking at older people that stereotypes them, just as people of particular races are stereotyped as being "smart", "industrious", "thrifty", "lazy", or "easy going" or when men and women are stereotyped as being "strong", "nurturing" or "sensitive" because of their gender.

Ageism is also part of attitudes where people believe that older adults can be treated in demeaning ways. Many people note that as they grow older and as they reach certain age milestones, (age 65 being one of them), others begin to treat them differently. Their attitudes change. In many cases, being treated differently means being treated as “less”— less valued, less capable etc. Or they are stereotyped. That is ageism.  Ageism is also reflected when younger persons implicitly or explicitly act as if they are more entitled to family or social resources than older adults are.

Robert Butler coined the word "ageism" in 1968. He  explained

“Ageism allows the younger generations to see older people as different than themselves; thus they subtly cease to identify with their elders as human beings.” (as cited in Butler, 1975) (4)

Older people are often stereotyped as weak, frail, and disabled. However, sometimes there are positive stereotypes of aging, such as when people assume all older people are wise or caring.

Ageism can involve stereotypes and myths, or outright disdain and dislike (e.g., "I don't like working with older people"). In some cases, ageism means avoiding contact with older people. Ageism includes the wide range of attitudes that prevent people from accurately assessing and responding to social problems and conditions of older adults. Ageism can be reflected in discriminatory practices in housing, employment, and services of all kinds. (5)  

The Ontario Human Rights Commission describes "ageism" as
 
“a tendency to structure society based on an assumption that everyone is young, thereby failing to respond appropriately to the real needs of older persons.” (6)

Negative attitudes towards older persons stem from myths about aging, the aging process, and being old. (7)

Ageism often intersects with and can be reinforced by other kinds of discriminations such as racism, sexism, and "able-bodied-ism" (where preference or greater social value is given to people who do not have impairments or disabling conditions).


Why Does Ageism Occur? 

Probably for many reasons. Canada is an industrial society, and many times people’s perceived personal value is tied to whether or not they are in paid work. In this environment, many of the significant past and current contributions which older adults have made to family, community, and society through raising children, work, volunteering and in paying taxes are overlooked or discounted. If a society has an exclusively economically focussed perspective, older adults may become treated as “disposable citizens”, and they may be perceived as some as having outlived their usefulness in adding to the economy.


What Are Some Examples of Ageism?

Ageism comes in many different forms. Sometimes the way that adult children respond to their parents may be ageist, e.g. if they treat the parents as if they were children, or if the adult children assume they are automatically entitled to a parent's assets or resources,  ("I'm young, I deserve it more"). Sometimes service providers may be ageist when they treat older adults in a paternalistic way.

Policies, decisions and negotiations that fail to take into account the impact on older members of society may reflect systemic ageism. A decision by a government or community group to not include any seniors on their advisory committee when the issues under discussion primarily affect older adults "because they wouldn't understand the policy issues" is another form of ageism, as is denying older adults opportunities to build their knowledge of issues. So is tokenism: tokenism occurs when a small group is invited to participate in an event or initiative to demonstrate that a program is progressive, or to show someone has consulted the constituency, but in fact has ignored their views.

Ageism and discrimination are closely linked. Ageism is the negative attitude, discrimination is the negative behaviour. When a doctor says he or she will not take older patients because they take more time, that is discriminatory. The doctor's office with the sign "One appointment, one medical problem" is discriminatory, because older adults are more likely than other age groups to have multiple health problems that need addressing. (8) Similarly, when a doctor only allows ten minutes for an appointment, that can discriminate against older adults who are likely to have longer and more complex medical histories.

Ageism may take the form of “granny bashing” in the popular press (blaming some or all of society’s current economic or other worries on older adults). (9) It is often reflected in advertisements where older adults are depicted as slow, out of date, and lacking knowledge about new technologies, and where youth are shown as quick and knowledgeable.  (10) It may also be reflected in the media where older adults as a group are characterized as a drain on society or as alternatively, as a well off group who are unconcerned about the needs of others (in which case, they are labelled “greedy geezers”).
 
Ageism is sometimes reflected by the extent to which older adults are visible to society. Our society can make older adults feel unwelcome, marginalizes them, and forces them to become invisible.(11) Older adults in institutional care become almost totally invisible to the rest of society.
 

Ageism and Language

Ageism is also perpetuated by the ways in which our society talks about older adults.(12) It is common to see ageist language in medicine, law and social sciences, when terms like “the elderly” and “the aged” are used to refer to older adults. Both of these terms give the impression that most older adults are mentally and physically frail. Health journals sometimes include people in their 50s as "elderly".

This use of language ignores the fact there are wide differences among seniors in their chronological age. Sixty year olds are different in their life experiences than 90 year olds .(13)  People aged 65-74 more closely resemble people under age 65 than they do those aged 85 and over in terms of their abilities or impairments. People aged 85 and over, on the other hand, are the older adults most likely to be characterized by disabling conditions that we associate with “old age” and “aging”.

Phrases like “our seniors”, “the elderly”, or “your loved one” can be ageist: these terms treat older people as they are someone's property, possessions or objects, not as individuals.  Language is sometimes subtly used  to draw a distinction between older adults and the rest of society (e.g., when a public figure talks about "the elderly in our hospitals", he or she may be implying that older adults are not part of "our society" and they have less entitlement to use resources such as hospitals).

Ageism, like racism and sexism, is a form of prejudice or prejudgment that shapes the perceptions of young and old. Both young and old can hold ageist attitudes.(14) This may be one of the reasons that many older adults have not actively and effectively fought ageist ideas or the longstanding stereotypes about ageing.

 

What is the Connection Between Abuse and Ageism?

Ageism is pervasive in Canada and many other societies. As a result, people seldom consider whether or not their actions could be ageist. It is very common to see the individual and broader social problems that older people face, being rationalized or discounted out of hand. Serious social and legal problems affecting older adults such as abuse and victimization by family, staff, or people in position of authority may be characterized as "rare events". Ageism can occur when people in authority do not believe older adults, or do not consider the harms as serious. Older adults may have their credibility questioned because of assumptions about how reliable older adults' memories are.

There are many ways in which abuse of seniors is rationalized or deflected by the abuser (“It’s the residents who abuse us” or "Well, I'm going to get the money anyway after she dies, why not take it now"). Some people will accept these rationalizations because of ageism, expecting that harms affect older adults less or that older adults have less right to their money or property than younger people do. We need to recognize these attempts at justifying behaviour such as financial abuse for what they are -- rationalizations. (15)  

The Ontario Human Rights Commission notes that abuse of older adults occurs in large part due to negative attitudes towards older people or their economic or social vulnerability. (16)

Ageism can be reflected in social policy that assumes all families are willing, able and capable of providing care to aging parents, even though in reality, some of these relationships can be strained from the outset and can become abusive.

Ageism is apparent when a jurisdiction enacts a protection law that takes away abused people's rights to make choices about their lives based solely or primarily on their age. The law equates being older with being "mentally incapable". Ageism is apparent when there are fewer public resources available for abused seniors compared to other groups.

 

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Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse  ~~Réseau canadien pour la

prévention des mauvais traitements envers les aîné(e)s

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