Recently Dr. Bill Thomas has reevaluated his role as a change maker for the long-term-care industry. I commend him on his ambitious goal to #DisruptAging using his “aggressive, pro-active” approach, which he calls The Way of the Tiger. I think he’s really onto something with his no-more-Mr.-Nice-Guy position. It serves society well, not just in regard to nursing homes, assisted living centers, and other institutional settings, but in any aspect of life that affects older adults.
In other words, every aspect of life.
I would like to see all of us embrace a militant approach toward abolishing ageism and its three insidious forms: discrimination, neglect, and abuse. It’s time for older adults to take back territory that has been lost (or maybe never even completely claimed). We elders should boldly assert our rights to dignity, autonomy, and access, not only for ourselves, but on behalf of all the generations that will eventually follow us into elderhood.
In short, I’d like to see us become gero-guerrillas for change.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not proposing any behavior that is violent or even civilly disobedient. After all, our battle shouldn’t be with other generations or even with getting older, a natural part of life. The enemy we gero-guerrillas must fight isn’t aging but ageism. The question is: How can we best do this?
The answer lies in taking advantage of two strengths that typical guerrilla fighters possess: 1) They intimately know the battlefield terrain, and 2) they rely on the element of surprise.
As many older adults know, the topography of aging is a challenging one to navigate on a daily basis. Often we are confronted with age bias in our workplaces, architectural and design inadequacies in our buildings and streets, subtle discrimination in our public policies, and abuse and neglect in our living situations. Younger generations can merely speculate about these struggles, but we know them intimately. And because of this, we are at an advantage since we have already experienced what it is like to be a child, teen, young adult, and middle-ager. We occupy a wider vantage point and can see a larger panorama of the lifespan and our place –– and everyone else’s –– in that landscape.
From our elevated strategic positions of social marginalization and invisibility we can fight ageism using the element of surprise. We should consider the tactic of unpredictably inserting –– and asserting –– ourselves in public situations in which no one expects us to appear. How? I have a couple of ideas.
- Attend a public government meeting as a group. Find out when a particular issue relating to older adults is on the agenda of your local city council or county commission meeting and, along with your elder friends and neighbors, make your presence known. To show your representatives that you are organized and willing to engage in debate, you might consider designing and wearing the same color T-shirt to identify your group. It can be an especially effective visual image for any media covering the meeting, too. Who knows? A reporter might come up to you afterward and ask you to weigh in on the issues.
- Boldly go where few elders have gone before. Do you think that karaoke and improvisational comedy clubs, flash mobs, and poetry slams are just for “the younger set”? Or a particular coffee shop, pub, yoga class, or hiking/biking group isn’t geared for someone your age? Think again. You might be pleasantly surprised if you showed up and actively participated along with the twenty- through forty-somethings that are there…and they might be pleasantly surprised, too! After all, we older adults may need to ask ourselves if we are enabling ageist attitudes and expectations by deliberately avoiding social situations in which we believe we don’t belong or have a right to enjoy.
- Admit it’s time for a “Million-Elder March.” How inspiring would it be to see a mega-multitude of older adults and their multi-generational supporters march along Washington D.C.’s National Mall and up to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial? Fifty-two years ago, it was the site of an incredibly historic Civil Rights event. The Mall has long been the venue for marches and protests supporting different causes –– why not a rally to abolish ageism?
Being a gero-guerrilla for change is something everyone, not just older adults, should embrace. We elders can lead the way, though, because we have special “street cred” owing to our experience in dealing with the ongoing and totally unnecessary ravages of ridicule and prejudice.
We would do well to enlist in the cause right now. For before long, if things don’t change, the war against ageism may draft us all.
I am also an aging 200 student at the Erickson School of Aging. I couldn’t agree more with this blog post. Seldom do you see elder meet-ups in the name of social change. Since we all will one day be a part of the “older” population, it make sense for us to want to keep the conversation going about ageism. For many decades, we have been told that “the older population doesn’t give back”. I find this entirely false! Some elderly people are still in the work force, some are child-care providers, and some are changing the world! (ex. Gloria Steinem is 81 and still fighting for gender equality!) While they also can provide us with wise sayings and insightful knowledge, the elderly are worth so much more than just that.
This article hits the nail right on the head when it says that our fight is with ageism, not with aging!
It is important to fight for those at disadvantages. Ageism victims especially, since theoretically, we will all be elderly one day.
I am currently an aging student in the Erickson school of Aging and I support the idea of abolishing ageism. Ageism is an idea created by the human mind in other to discriminate against seniors who are sometimes viewed as irrelevant to society.This is a huge misconception because the aging individuals in the society are the ones who have accumulated knowledge over the years. Due to this acquired skill, they are also able to give valuable advice as a result of long years of experience in the field. It is important to know that not all aging individuals should be regarded as passive since the percentage of such individuals are so low compared to that of the active seniors in society. It should also be noted that because the aged may be physically limited does not mean that they are cognitively and socially impaired. They should be able to take part in societal activities without being discriminated against.
The approach taken towards the fight against ageism should be a peaceful protest that would allow more individuals to understand that the ability to age is really a blessing not a curse.
We should add a fourth insidious form of ageism to the list: poverty.
I say yes! It’s time for strong political action! For example Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut has called antipsychotic medication use in nursing homes a form of elder abuse, but since he made this statement in 2012 there has been no movement to draft informed consent law in CT and his federal proposal failed. With more in more information (http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20150318/antipsychotics-may-be-deadlier-than-thought-for-dementia-patients) about the harmful nature of these meds and the anemic pace of change more needs to be done both on the state level and nationally. I wrote an op ed for a CT news outlet http://ctmirror.org/2015/03/18/op-ed-ct-assembly-should-enact-informed-consent-law-for-nursing-home-elders/ and started a petition on move.on.org http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/require-informed-consent?source=c.em&r_by=1650174 Advocates are going to be a strong voice in the public arena. I look forwad to seeing Dr. Thomas in Cheshire. If you know any Connecticut Residents please pass this along!
I’m in an employee retiree group that has clear common interests – but it is hard to pull together as little as 5% for meetings – which are set up to be entertaining, as well as informative. When it comes to actual active involvement ( lobbying legislators, for instance) we end up with around 1% — with conflicting views. What I’ve seen in my town is that you can get seniors to vote as a bloc when it comes to something that only benefits them – or a core group of them – and when I say only benefits THEM, I mean they only show up like woodchucks on Groundhog Day, for a single thing they want, and never come out – as a group – for other issues in town [ of course there are individuals who are involved]. Other than that they vote with the same associated prejudices as the rest of the community.
If you don’t show that you are concerned with overall welfare of your home area – the schools, local taxes, recreation for youth, the environment – you are not going to build support for your own causes.
By the way, more research is needed on how to impact legislation — without deep pockets. One group I am in stopped approaching state legislators in groups – on Legislature Awareness Day – because some aides etc, advised that the photo moments no longer had any effect on what the official actually did – they had become inured to the agendas of each group. ( Some legislators used photos with group members and voted against the interests of the people IN the photos). You need people who write letters, call and keep at it.
I still do like having people appear as a group; I also second getting over your own prejudices and self limiting boundaries by doing something with younger people. Something a friend and I have done — take courses at our local community college. In many places they are free or almost free. DO the work, don’t just sit there. You’ll meet people just out of high school, older people returning to college to improve their skills, immigrants determined to make a better life: in short, you get involved with people who you don’t always associate with. You get to show them that seniors have something to offer.
I actually read this because my core group has discussed exactly the question of how our group should be representing ourselves politically – with shooting ourselves in the foot. Or Feet.
Could we please use less militant language? What we resist, persists. We could all become crusaders for a better world for aging issues. Show how it can be better, not act against what is. A lot of people of goodwill think they are doing the best they can in the current situation. Lead them forward, build on their goodwill and progress will happen. Fight them and they will fight back and we will have a lot more heat than light on the situation.