practical living
The last taboo
Why words matter in the fight against ageism .
Briony Dow interviewed by Eleanor Campbell
Discrimination on the basis of age is illegal in Australia , but we still see prejudice reflected through the way we use language and communication , according to the executive director of the National Ageing Research Institute ( NARI ), Professor Briony Dow .
As part of the 2021 Ageism Awareness Day , NARI has developed an age positive language guide to offer alternative words and phrases which better portray older people in research and in everyday life .
Instead of lumping together people aged over 65 as “ the elderly ”, for example , Dow recommends that people be specific and consider people ’ s individual characteristics .
Dow joined Aged Care Insite to speak about developing the guide , ageism in academic research , and why we need to think about the way we communicate .
ACI : How have you witnessed language being used as a driver of prejudice and discrimination ? BD : Over the decades I ’ ve observed ageism being an all-pervasive problem in our society , and it is reflected in language but also shaped by language . It just goes unchallenged when people make ageist comments .
People will talk about a ‘ silly old driver ’. They ’ ll talk about how great it is because young people have joined their workplace . There ’ s a whole range of ways in which people talk about age and ageing , where older is always bad and younger is always good . If you just think about people , we talk about fresh ideas , innovation and new thinking , rather than tried and true , or traditional . Some of those things are seen much more in a negative light .
I think language reflects the way we think , but it also shapes the way we think , because we constantly reinforce the negative ways in which old and older people are viewed .
Where does language rank in the pervasiveness of ageism ? It ’ s all pervasive . The policy impacts are profound . If you think about aged care , for example , we wouldn ’ t tolerate the sort of problems that we have in aged care if we were dealing with younger people . We talk about older people in hospital as ‘ bed blockers ’; we ’ d never describe a young person that way .
The language is important , but it ’ s also the fact of the behaviour that leads to the policies and programs that mean there aren ’ t good alternatives for older people
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If we ’ re lucky , we ’ ll all grow older , so this artificial distinction is problematic .
to be discharged quickly from hospital . Therefore , they ’ re stuck there , and they ’ re given a negative title of bed blocker .
As a researcher , how have you seen ageist language manifest in that space ? Ageism manifests itself in research through things like people grouping everybody over age 65 together . For example , you might have a survey where you ’ ve got age limitations : 0 to five , five to 10 , 10 to 50 and so on , and then you have 65 plus , as if everybody over 65 is the same and shares the same characteristics . We wouldn ’ t lump age 0 to 35 or 35 to 70 together , yet we happily lump 65 to 100 together . Another thing that happens in research is that people over a certain age are excluded . This happens routinely with pharmaceutical trials . People over a certain age are excluded because they have complex medical problems . We actually don ’ t know whether that medicine works for that age group , and we ’ ll never know because they ’ re not included in the trial .
What are some of the general terms that people use in everyday life that could be considered ageist ? I think you see ageism reflected not only in language , but in visual imagery . You
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