...Ageism and the Elderly Decrepit, senile, over the hill, old fart or slow driver are often the words you hear when referring to “the elderly”. In 1969, Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging was the first to use the term “ageism” to describe the stereotyping of people because of their age. The term ageism contains a negative bias or attitude toward the aging. This it a form of discrimination. While there is other ‘isms used in American society; sexism, or racism, ageism enables the younger generation to see older people differently, they may be seen as just old people who are no longer able to actively contribute to society. When is a person considered to be old or elderly? There was a time when you were required to retire at the age of 65. But with the economy and life span increasing people work until they cannot. There is no set age but society usually deems a person old when they are able to collect benefits like pensions, social security, medical care or discounted meals. The United States Census Bureau has estimated that the population of those over 65 will increase from 11.4 percent in 2000 to 20.7 percent in 2050. The baby boom generation, those born in the 1950’s will make up sixteen percent of the population in at least ten states by 2020. Some say that by the end of the twenty-first century life expectancy will exceed 100 years of age. Most people want to live a long life, but only if they are mentally and physically able to...
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...Discrimination (Ageism) in Healthcare Student Name Professor Name DHA-865 July 14, 2013 | Age Related Healthcare Discrimination (Ageism) in Healthcare While the “Greatest Generation” is a title often given to those Americans who lived and died during the era of the Great Depression and World War II, their offspring, the “Baby Boom” generation, significantly shaped and improved the American landscape as well if for no greater reason than the sheer number of people who make up this population (Steinhorn, 2006). Today, based predominantly on that very same reason, the baby boomer population is now making a very different, yet equally as profound impact on American society. More specifically, this impact is being made on the healthcare system of the US, and the discriminatory practice of “ageism” that older patients currently face. The purpose of this paper is to explore, analyze, and evaluate both the practice of age discrimination in healthcare and the federal policy issues and efforts that are involved with it. The work begins by providing background information on the current demographics of the aging American population and forecasts for the impact this will likely have on the healthcare industry in the near future. It then transitions into a discussion on what ageism is, where its historical roots come from, and where it fits into the federal Fair Labor Act. A review of the literature is then presented, documenting the discrimination that elderly people are...
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...training to ensure compliance with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, but also to ensure that all employees including younger and older workers are respected and valued in a workplace that is attractive, responsive to their needs and optimizes their opportunity to contribute. For some organisations this will mean a significant culture change. Consider that 25-34 is the current favourite recruitment age of employers and The Employers Forum on Age has estimated that ageism costs the UK economy over £26bn each year. Diversiton’s one day course ‘Age Diversity’ will help you to explore the issues that affect your capacity to be an age positive employer and help you to identify the steps you need to take to fully comply with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. What do we mean by ageism? Ageism is a negative bias against a person or group of people on the grounds of age. Ageism is usually focused on two targets: young adults and older adults but ageism can affect employees of any age. Ageism includes attitudes and actions which relegate or treat as “not as good” a person or group for no other reason than their age. Research shows that women are likely to experience the effects of such...
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...journey’s to dying. Meanwhile, human growth and development study made us understand that the race of one’s life is in stages from the point of conception to an infant, to a childhood stage, to an adolescent stage, to an adulthood stage, to an elderly, and finally to end of life and the study as well made us understand the extensive changes throughout lifespan; Consequently, it is known the reason why most toddlers says “No”, and why many adolescent pay attention to their body without criticizing any stage of these lifespan stages. The same concept is applicable to elders or late adulthood people and having a discriminatory ideology towards a person because of his/her age or people of late adulthood stage would be considered uncivilized or uneducated act or a novice to the study of human growth and development. Late adulthood can be a challenge because of the signs of aging from middle adult continues and increased as one aged. Late adulthood individual may face with significant changes including brittle bones, hearing impaired, visual problems, and slow metabolism. Despite some of these changes, late adulthood maintains their integrity, and shares their unique experiences with the community. Technology with the use of advance medicine in elderly, assist with transition from life to death. ” Modern medicine is replacing traditional ways of coping with death” (Shubha, 2007, p.3). Late adulthood individual are also faced with the...
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...Ageism: Old People Can’t Drive In American society, it seems that we treasure youth and either fear or are disappointed to reach old age. Our culture has a big influence on how the elderly are perceived has stereotyped this population, mostly seen through the media. Even in films, TV, books, and magazines old people are often portrayed as frail, weak, klutzy, or indecisive. We should look treat our elderly with respect for the fact that they are more associated with experience, knowledge, and wisdom than a younger population. Ageism describes this discrimination against the old due to misconceptions and ignorance. Every person has their own perceptions of seniors and growing old. As an individual grows up, those perceptions are influenced by family, friends, and any interactions with the elderly. But as this individual gets older, they become more influenced by the media and what other people are telling us. I believe that in my generation, we are becoming more naive about our elders and I see and hear about it all the time. One that I get a lot is their driving capabilities. People say all the time that old people can’t drive when, in fact, I see younger people getting in accidents more than our seniors. They have been driving much longer than we have and maybe have more experienced skills in driving. In the advertisement I have chose, it reads, “John McCain is old. Do you want him driving your country?” There is picture of John McCain and an elderly lady driving and...
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...Impact Nursing Ageism is a kind of unfairness that affects discrimination on people based upon their age. Sexism and racism are related to ageism include being adverse customs concerning people of various ages Cherry, K. (n.d.). Aging unavoidably includes increased need for health-care assistance at any level also at any position for almost all grown Americans. A summary of the current status of older- healthcare rings with hard info. For example, based on the ILC’s 2006 statement on ageism in America, 90% of elderly Americans nevermore get regular screening examinations for prostate or colon cancer, bone density, or glaucoma—every disease state can advance with age. Sixty percent of elder grown-ups do not get regular preventive health assistance,...
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...What is the social justice issue that is identified in the chapter that you selected and how is it related to themes explored in the course? Within the book, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, “Ageism: Another Form of Bigotry” by Robert N. Butler examined the social justice issue of ageism, which is the action of stereotyping and discriminating against older individuals simply because they are old (Adams, Blumenfield, Castañeda, Hackman, Peters, and Zúñiga, 2013). Unfortunately, ageism is commonly seen in the United States, especially in film and television industries where viewers often watch older individuals treated disrespectfully. Butler further explored the notion that individuals are fearful of growing old and idolize youth....
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...Ageism. In this assignment I will discuss my learning outcome from the group discussion and the collaboration of the poster and mind mapping, I will also critically analyse and discuss the public attitude, and my personal perception towards ageism. To gain knowledge of different relationships and how ageism affects society, I will also discuss key concepts in relation towards the inequality and discrimination expressed towards this group of the population. I will examine how the health service and social care professionals conduct themselves towards care of the elderly, and the actions they take to resolve discriminatory practices to reduce social inequality in respect of the elderly. Patch1 After reflecting on my own attitudes regarding my understanding of the elderly, I found that I held similar views in that once an elderly person had reached a particular age they can be easily disregarded as a useful member of society, however my views were not based on any known facts or any valid experience that I had encountered, but rather on my personal interpretation and general stereotype towards the elderly, after our group discussion and after reading relevant literature concerning ageism my opinion has changed. Ageism was introduced by Robert Butler (1969) suggesting it was a process whereby an older person was systematically stereotyped with prejudicial attitudes directed towards them. This was deemed as discrimination. According to (McGlone...
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...lives of four elderly women living in Miami during the 1980s. As I am watching, I for the first time notice the four "elderly" women depicted in the show all defy the general concepts of ageing as well as ageing stereotypes. The female characters all are very healthy, fashionable, energetic, social, employed and have active love lives. This portrayal is a great contrast from the depiction of the grumpy, unhealthy, introverted and frail perceptions modern media and society associates with the elderly. This makes me wonder,...
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...Discrimination 2. Stereotyping 3. Prejudice Answer the following questions in 100 to 200 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. • What is ageism? How does ageism influence the presence of diversity in society? Ageism is the act of being prejudice or discriminating against someone because of their age. Ageism is not just directed towards older people, it is also directed towards kids, teenagers, and young adults. Sometimes older people discriminate against younger people and younger people discriminate against older people. Ageism influences diversity in society because people that are affected can lose their job. If their was only younger people working in the workplace then that will leave elderly’s out of work which in turn will lack diversity. Older people that has had their job for years has gotten raises and promotions so some jobs think it is easier to fire them and hire younger people to save money. They think it is cheaper to replace them. • What is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)? How does the ADEA address issues for the aging population? The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prevents jobs to discriminate against older people that are 40 and older. The ADEA was enacted in 1968. It prevents jobs from firing elderly people and hiring younger people because of them wanting to pay younger people lower salaries. The Supreme Court strengthened federal protection against age discrimination in 1996...
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...rest of society 3. Obtaining insurance is difficult for the elderly due to their age and the coverage that they may require due to their age. Answer the following questions in 100 to 200 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. • What is ageism? How does ageism influence the presence of diversity in society? Ageism is “prejudice and descrimination against older adults”. (Schaefer, 2012). Ageism influencecs the presence of diversity in society in a negative way because it eliminates the elderly from social activities, the work force, and other areas in society due to the differences between them and the current generation. The elderly are the minority in population and women typically out live men by a 5 to 2 ratio, leaving more women behind than men. This issue influences diversity in a large way, causing many lonely women left behind in a group that is typically separate from the rest of society. • What is the Age Discriminitation in Employment Act (ADEA)? How does the ADEA address issues for the aging population? The Age Discriination in Employment Act when into effect in 1968 to protect workers who were at least 40 years of age or older from being let go from their jobs because of age and being replaced with workers who were younger for lower pay. In 1996 the ADEA became even more strict which regulates not only the firing of the elderly, but the hiring of the elderly as well as the training that is necessary for them to succeed...
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...Ageism “Please help us find this woman!” That was a post that made it to my Facebook page about a week ago. The post was accompanied by a picture of a middle-aged woman with an elderly gentleman in tow. Passengers on a commercial flight were witness to a case of elder abuse that left the elderly gentlemen in tears and the passengers enraged. There is no way to know if the story that was posted was true, but it certainly was heartbreaking and representative of an all too real problem that is on the rise in this country - elder abuse, a consequences of ageism. Defined Ageism is defined as prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person's age and is the systematic stereotyping and discrimination against people simply because they are old (Adams, 2000). The main theme with ageism is that younger people cannot relate to the elderly and see the gap between the two groups as very wide. As people begin to age their bodies, personalities and memories begin to change and those changes lead to the young having a hard time identifying with the...
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... GM, 6 Grumpy Old Men Assignment Grumpy Old Men Assignment The movie “Grumpy Old Men” starring Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau, portrays aging in its highs and lows through humor to soften the ageism put on the last stages of life. It exposes the disengagements, actions and social emotions of the second half of life from a development process. John Gustafson (Jack Lemon) spends a lot of time in his home alone playing chess. His mornings outside of the holidays consist of ice fishing in his own house careen; his nights in front of the television eating TV dinners alone. While he is not on a diet, his eating habits are poor. His daily routines demonstrates the disengagement described in the disengagement theory of aging. As people age they “withdraw themselves from the world around them,” (Baird, 2011, p. 187). This happens when the elderly retire from work and no longer have the type of daily socialization you get from co-workers and dealing with the outside world. Children get older and develop their own lifestyle which results in them coming around less or not at all. The elderly are left to linger in their own memories as they await death. Ariel Truax (Ann-Margret) and Max Goldmen (Walter Matthau) also had introverted parts of their lives; however these stereotypical behaviors wasn’t the focus of the movie. Ariel’s painting and Max’s fishing became their pastime although...
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...University of Phoenix Material Appendix I Part I Define the following terms: Term | Definition | Ageism | Ageism is a type of discrimination that involves prejudice against people based upon their age. Similar to racism and sexism, ageism involves holding negative stereotypes about people of different ages. | Baby boomer | A person who was born between 1946 and 1964. The baby boomer generation makes up a substantial portion of the North American population. Representing nearly 20% of the American public, baby boomers have a significant impact on the economy. As a result, baby boomers are often the focus of marketing campaigns and business plans. | Americans with Disabilities Act | Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. | Visitability | Visitability is an affordable, sustainable and inclusive design approach for integrating basic accessibility features into all newly built homes and housing. | Accessibility | easy to approach, reach, enter, speak with, or use. | Disability | a physical or mental handicap, especially one that prevents a person from living a full, normal life or from holding a gainful job. | Inclusion | the act of including or the...
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...Butler (1969) defines ageism as the “systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish this with skin color and gender” (Leon-Guerrero, 2014). This issue of ageism is undoubtedly a social problem, and affects us all differently. The fact that ageism is one of the most socially condoned forms of prejudice against a certain group of people is simply unacceptable (Leon-Guerrero, 2014). Too many people look at the “old generation” is not being fit, or able to take care of themselves, therefore creating a burden among the rest of the “young” generation. I believe it is very dangerous to cast such judgments upon a group of people, particularly the group of individuals who are being condemned as “old.” Negative stereotypes continue to gain acceptance among younger age groups regarding the elderly, consisting of opinions and judgments of the loss of their minds, conservatism, lack of sexual drive, and decrease in productivity (Leon-Guerrero, 2014). This constant chain of events affect us in those around us due to the fact that the younger generation is being objected to the theory that all of these statements regarding the elderly are true, therefore molding their opinion regardless of the facts. Personally, I expect the same types of judgments or discrimination towards me, regarding my aging process and growing old. It is very likely that anyone who lives long enough will experience some type of ageism, and the negative...
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