practical living see birthday cards that are meant to be humorous showing older women ’ s breasts down to their knees . That sort of humour is no longer acceptable for people of colour , for example , yet it ’ s still considered acceptable for older people .
The other thing that happens in everyday life is people just being ignored . I ’ ve had some actually quite hilarious situations with my own mother where , for example , she was going on a flight and the flight attendant said to me , ‘ Does your mother prefer an aisle seat or a window seat ?’ And I ’ d ask , ‘ Mum , do you prefer an aisle seat or a window seat ?’ And she ’ d answer the question . Eventually , I ’ d just have to say , ‘ You can speak directly to my mother .’
There ’ s an assumption that older people are deaf or cognitively impaired in some way so that you can ’ t actually speak to them directly . It ’ s not just about language . It ’ s about the way we communicate , which is so important as well .
And what are some of the effects that these kinds of encounters might have on a person ? They make them feel like they ’ re invisible or worthless , or not worth talking to . Or they might start to internalise those negative views . In fact , ageism is often directed towards itself . While we might hear young health professionals say they don ’ t want to work with our older people , we also hear older people saying , ‘ Why would you want to work with old people like me ?’ People do internalise those negative attitudes and views . We know that it has an effect on people ’ s mental and physical wellbeing .
How do you see the relationship between ageism and elder abuse ? I think it ’ s similar to misogyny and abuse against women in one way , in that if you have an underlying negative attitude , prejudice or discrimination towards a group in the population , it just makes it easier to see them as other , as not ourselves .
It makes them an easier target , I guess , of abuse , and promotes the view that the older people have all had their day , that they ’ ve done well and that they don ’ t deserve what they ’ ve got .
There ’ s the idea of inheritance : that they don ’ t deserve to have their house and their income and what they ’ ve accumulated over their life , because they ’ re old . ‘ They don ’ t need it anymore , therefore I should have it .’ That ’ s one of the ways in which financial elder abuse is perpetrated .
Why did you decide to develop this guide ? In what context can it be used , and has something like this existed before ? There are guides , particularly for how to communicate and language one should use when talking with and about people living with dementia . But I couldn ’ t find a general language guide that applied to age-positive language generally .
The context is very much about the way we go about our work at the National Ageing Research Institute . We have a strong component of all our work about combating ageism in all its forms . But we also are really keen to make the language that we use accurate .
Often you ’ ll see in visual imagery the older person is depicted as very old and frail and weakened , in cognitive decline , or they ’ re depicted as having a full set of white teeth , perfectly muscularly formed , out there riding their bike : and the reality is all of those things and so many things in between .
One of our key objectives is to make sure that a realistic picture of older people is the narrative . Not either an overly positive or overly negative one .
Internally , we wanted to make sure that we ’ re all on the same page about how language was used . We also thought it was useful for other researchers , and the general public , just to think about the language that we use and how we use it .
One of my pet gripes is the use of ‘ the elderly ’. This is used constantly in the media , as if everybody over 65 shares all the same characteristics . They ’ re all the elderly and the elderly are probably all frail and have cognitive issues , and so on . It brings up a negative picture .
No people of any age want to be described as ‘ the elderly ’. I think it ’ s also somewhat lazy , if you like . We need to be more specific . If we ’ re talking about a 75-year-old woman who ’ s living in residential age care , why don ’ t we say that rather than elderly ? If we ’ re talking about people who are receiving aged care services as a group , let ’ s talk about that .
If we ’ re talking about people who experience elder abuse or who have decline or whatever , let ’ s just describe them as the people that we mean . And let ’ s not put the disability ahead of the person . One of the key messages in our age positive guide is to put the person ahead of the disability . To describe someone with dementia : living with dementia is ‘ living with dementia ’: not a demented person . Put the disability second and the person first .
What are your thoughts on how the media speaks about older people ? I do think it ’ s getting better , actually . I do notice more descriptions that are more accurate rather than just ‘ the elderly ’, but it ’ s still there . I don ’ t use it , but they ’ re still there in language that ’ s used by my research colleagues . It ’ s definitely still there . It ’ s not just in the media .
But hopefully it ’ s getting better . Hopefully , we ’ re getting a more nuanced view . The thing that will really help is when we get the voices of older people themselves more into the media , more into describing their experiences of growing older , of aged care services , as well as more interaction between younger and older people , rather than these artificial divides that are based on age groups .
What are some practical ways that people can avoid using this language in their everyday life ? The important thing is to talk to the older person themselves . Make sure you communicate directly . Don ’ t assume that people are deaf or have cognitive decline just because they ’ re older . And use that age-positive language . It ’ s about connecting with people of all ages and recognising that we ’ re all the same . We ’ re all people .
If we ’ re lucky , we ’ ll all grow older , and so this artificial distinction based on age is problematic and we need to get rid of it . Once you start connecting with people and getting to know them as individuals , you stop this ‘ othering ’ that is reflected in language and contributed to by language .
At a policy level , at a program level , even though discrimination is illegal on the basis of age in this country , we still see a lot of discrimination that ’ s reflected in delivery of services . Age discrimination is really rife in employment .
Do you think we will tackle the ageism problem anytime soon ? I think we have to . Our population is getting older . There ’ ll be more and more older people in the community . And I think that it will help with the exposure . We ’ re going to have to deal with the needs of older people as well , much more effectively than we have done to date . I think that will also hopefully , influence ageism in a positive way . I do think it ’ s a positive future . ■ agedcareinsite . com . au 25