GETTING SENIOR ISSUES ON THE AGENDA


Ageism a “major barrier” In March 2021, the World Health Orga- nization released its Global Report on Ageism, which highlighted worldwide challenges associated with ageism and the way that the issue touches on all aspects of society. Ageism, the report says, “is a major barrier to enacting effective policies and tak- ing action on healthy aging.” Ageism’s impact can be difficult to nail


down in a concrete way, but experts agree that ageism undoubtedly has an influence on the way that policies related to aging issues are treated by both policymakers and the public, among an array of challenges.


Ageism in action Janine Vanderburg, director of Changing the Narrative, a strategic communications and awareness campaign aimed at ageism, says ageism simply is “rampant,” pointing to an AARP study indicating that 78 per- cent of people age 45 and older experienced or witnessed workplace age discrimination; and a University of Michigan study that found that 82 percent of people age 50 to 80 in the United States had experienced everyday ageism. The largest obstacle to overcoming


ageism in the public policy realm is how pervasive and accepted it is, even among well-meaning individuals, Vanderburg says.


bias—that internalized bias—about aging. That does impact public policy.”


Dearth of diversity Older adults represent a broad swath of people, but D’Antonio says popular cul- ture tends to focus on two visions of older adults—frail and bedridden or carefree and active. “I don't think that we recognize how


diverse we become as we age,” D’Antonio says. “I think that affects policy because when we choose certain messages about ag- ing it affects how people think about aging.” As Jan Mutchler, director of the Ger-


ontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, says, “There’s a kind of shorthand that we do all the time, particularly in the media, to reduce com- plicated stories to simplistic things. That’s a place where ageism is really reinforced.” Similarly, Kate de Medeiros, a research


associate at the Scripps Gerontology Center and a professor of gerontology at Miami University, says a common stereotype she sees applied to older adults are that they are “weak and dependent.” That creates a skewed perspective that


hovers over policy discussions and infuses the policies that result. “On one hand, it’s sometimes done to help encourage policies to take care of these


defined by their age, they even differ widely by age, especially as Americans’ lifespans have grown. As Frank Newport, a Gallup senior sci-


entist, noted in an essay, “The 65 and older ‘senior’ category is large and includes people whose ages can differ by more than 30 years. This makes the seniors category bigger than any of the three other commonly used age groups, and one that includes people who were born at quite different times in our nation's history and thus with different life experiences.” “It is good to be aware that ‘seniors’ as a


group today are hardly monolithic, particu- larly in terms of their approach to politics,” Newport wrote.


Not a monolith Still, even as the demographic of older adults has become less uniform, they still frequently are viewed as a singular voting block, ignoring the complex intergenera- tional dynamic that exists. Consequently, the major challenges that loom for subgroups within the older adult demographic, such as those who are not financially prepared for retirement or those with major health problems, can still get overshadowed and lost in the public debate. In that vein, Vanderburg says public policy addressing aging issues is incomplete,


Ageism, the World Health Organization report says, “is a major barrier to enacting effective policies and taking action on healthy aging.”


“Researchers talk about unconscious or


implicit bias: Because of messages we’ve received from childhood on, we subcon- sciously form negative judgments about people based on their age,” Vanderburg says. Patricia D’Antonio, vice president of


policy and professional affairs for the Gerontological Society of America, says everyone is susceptible to being ageist in some way. “There's that explicit ageism that we hear


sometimes, but then there's also this implicit bias that people have that they don't even realize they have,” D’Antonio says. “Even as we age, we have that, so older people themselves may have some of that implicit


people, but what it also does is it works in the opposite way and reinforces these nega- tive stereotypes,” de Medeiros says. “That, in turn, can hurt older workers,


older people in general, because they're portrayed as weak, less than competent and in need of protection.”


A lack of attention Kaskie says there “absolutely” has been a lack of attention given to aging and public policy. Kaskie says the aging population has


become more diverse not only in terms of racial and ethnic composition but in terms of financial stability, health status and education background. For a population


10 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022


emphasizing certain issues while ignoring other important ones. “The public policy focus around aging is-


sues too often reflects ageist stereotypes that are prevalent in society—for example, that aging is all a time of decline, deterioration, dependence, depression,” Vanderburg says. “So policy discussions tend to focus


exclusively on things like long-term care, financial fraud, and more. These are really important issues, but other really important issues that also impact quality of life are being ignored. What we don’t do is include older adults in policy discussions around broader issues like workforce development. We know that older adults both want and need to work. But rarely does workforce


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