It is a pretty good way to feel stupid. That urgent loo call in the middle of a film and you know you will have to feel your way down two dozen steps. And on each one apologise for resting your hand on a bald head or young woman’s shoulder….
If you have an out of date, out of fashion name, are you judgesd on it?
We are caring people, yet we find it so hard to realise when our kindly meant words are actually Ageist. The answer has to be education. A steady subtle feed of fresh thinking, new realistic images of later years, new words and phrases for us all to use …and sink into our unconscious!
Without realising it, we have started being Ageist against ourselves! And it is very hard not to be. Doubt if most of us even recognise that we are. Otherwise bright, sensible, people see a grey hair and find themselves panicking.
In that minute they are colluding with Ageism!
Oh dear what can the matter be? Many old ladies stuck on a lavatory!
A wave of fear has engulfed the middle years of life.
Almost a tsunami! Sensible people worrying, fretting, feeling anxious about ageing, yet actually heading for the best stage of their lives!
How did that happen?
Stranded! Beached whale feeling. But that rapidly turned to chuckles.
“I have to ask for help to get up from a chair in the office of an organisation that espouses Age Friendly places!”
Lovely….However what was really interesting was that it had never occurred to them.
