Ageism: An Emerging Racism



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What actually does it mean?

I think ageism is a cultural illness and not a personal illness. Ageism is discriminating against people based on their age. This concept of discrimination has disturbed the health of older adults. 

Though if I ask you, when a person is considered to be old every one of you will answer differently as one would say when knees give up, the second person would say when hair goes grey, the other would say after age 40. The answers have very different policy implications. 

There is no defined document for when a person is old, but today this term is used loosely and derogatorily. Whether you are growing old graciously or challenging each step of the way, the truth is it is not the knees that hurt, neither the grey hair and nor the age specifications, it is the world who only worships youth. 


Are “Old people” less competent?

Many of you would think and in reply would say older people are not competent and youth is far more competent but my dear this is what is being an ageist. Older adults might not be as active as younger ones, but they truly have the experience which hopefully leads to wisdom. This doesn’t mean that Youngers are not important I only meant to say that each person regardless of their age, race and gender should be respected equally. 

Age is something that we have created, it’s just a number trust me. According to WHO, there are 600 million people aged 60 years and this number will be doubled by 2025. This number should not limit your boundaries, growing old by the number of years is what we all are going through, but you shouldn’t grow old by your brain think wisely. 

Irony in getting older

Age is something human has created, it’s nothing but an unwanted barrier to society. When a child is born, we eagerly wait for him to turn 1 and then we celebrate like anything, he turns 16 and we start pressurizing him for career stress, he turns 25 and we pressurize him for marriage and after 30 he thinks he is old. 

Firstly we eagerly want them to grow and then suddenly when it comes to jobs and employment we want specifically younger people. For example, A woman was fired from the job saying that she is old and can’t work properly now. When she appealed to the court, the decision given by the judge was that the mistakes she had made were because of inadequate training and not because of her age. By this, I want to say problems don’t come with the age but with the mentality of people. 



Ageism - a scheme for production

Nowadays people have made ageism a point for production, some big organizations are selling anti-ageing creams, why? Just because they know that ageism will lead people to buy such products. This is the live example you all can see if you notice people around you. 

Especially women don’t like being called “aunty” though it is a respectful way of calling any elder women. This is something that tells ageism is hurting the mental health as well as the physical health of people.


Conclusion 

Our words matter, if we start respecting them and start telling them that they are beautiful just the way they are, hopefully, it will change the society a lot. Spend some time with your grandparents, parents and you will know how they feel when people call them old when people try to discriminate them. 

From 18,057 old people, it has increased to 26,728 old people in old age homes. It is discrimination for them in their own home. If you can’t keep them happy then please don’t make them sad too. Equal opportunities should be given to both younger and elders, stop treating elders as a burden. And for the people who think age matters, then let me tell you “Age is an issue Mind over Matter if you don’t mind it will never Matter.”

Think yourself, once you reach a certain age you aren’t allowed to be adventurous, not allowed to be sexual, I mean is there a rule? Are you just supposed to die? If your answer is NO then, stop being an “ageist.1"

Written By: Amrita Mansharamani
Edited By: Harshit Agarwal


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