Ageism
Society has always dictated the age at which we can and cannot do things such as smoking, drinking, retirement. As a result, we have developed certain stereotypes and attitudes towards people of certain ages and judge them on that basis.
Our perceptions are influenced by pessimistic headlines warning of a "demographic time bomb", "looming pensions crisis", "high street hoodies" and "gang mentality", which creates further negativity towards both older people and teenagers.
The Scottish Government's ageism campaign 2008 responds to these negative views within society. The campaign's main focus is to highlight the positive and valuable contributions that older people make to society, while also highlighting the similar negative perceptions faced by teenagers.
See the person and not the age.
Some members of society may feel that once you are of retirement age you are unable to aid in any way to the economy, this is not the case. In many instances the older generation have valuable information and life skills that they can pass on to others whether it be teaching younger people or rubbing their knowledge onto others to use.
Within the home, grandparents can aid families a lot by taking care of their grandchildren, meaning parents can work longer hours, bringing more money to themselves and to the economy
Older people want to stay active and make a contribution.
It is not just the older generation who have negative stereotypes, if you are younger you tend to be branded as 'trouble' when with friends on the streets at night or even shopping at the weekends. This is all because Society tends to see them in such a way older people do not feel they can trust them, the media plays a part by constantly reporting on youth culture, most of the time however the teenagers are interested in studying, socialising and progressing in life.
Some links to other websites to read more on ageism are www.infoscotland.com/seetheperson
Also a good case study is about a woman call Lynn Ruth Millar, a pensioner from America who still does stand up comedy, dancing and painting and is performing at this years Edinburgh Ferstival. She is a believer that ageing is amazing www.lyynruthmiller.com
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article - why not add one using the form below