Ageism in work place.

http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/us/ageism1.htm

We can get all the legal facts form this article.

Perception about ageism in work place is changing as well. About 5 years ago , seniors were considered a "dead weight" of any company. They received larger bonuses, got longer vacations, enjoyed better benefits than the newcomers. The structure of the corporate system allowed that to happen.

Now with the economy at its lowest, seniors perform extremely well on every days tasks, they possess insight, experience and as soon as the company makes them feel comfortable they will outperform the youngsters.

I remember another valuable lesson of my life. A woman in her 60-ies was hired to work with me. With all the rest of the staff being from 20 to 30, it was hard for me to accept this misfortune. I was worried about my work, anxious about what we will talk about, if we even have something in common. I suspected her to be slow and old fashioned. She turned out to be the best coworker I had, always reliable, resourceful, not afraid of dirty work.

Were you ever wrong about a person? Was it his or her appearance? Or age? Please, comment.

Ageism in healthcare.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/20/health/main554845.shtml
http://www.agingresearch.org/content/article/detail/694/
http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Health/3-05-19healthcare.htm
Some articles I found interesting about ageism in healthcare.
Insurance companies in America approve certain procedures based on some bold age gap. We all watched an episode or twon of "House", where he is having a hard time getting a patient on the transplant list, based on age alone. Every individual is in different physical shape and assessment should be done differently to qualify for necessary treatment. Chemotherapy is not advised based on the age as well.
I had a horrible experience in Russia with my family member needing an artificial lens, because of the cataract. I was told by the "Head of the ophthalmology department" that it is basically a waste of money to do this procedure, because a person is 62 and will not need it for "much longer". My grandfather, whose picture you see here, can see very well and enjoyed 15 more years of quality lifestyle after the surgery. I am sure that incident would never happen here, but insurance companies still have a say in such matters.
One should go public if she/he was rejected based on the age alone and stop any further discrimination.
By the way, my mother who is 51 is in better physical shape than I am, because she always eats smart and exercises without gaps in her schedule. She is a swimmer and participated in several competitions throughout last couple of years.
The perception of poor physical health related to age is changing as well. Many seniors win marathons and have time to polish their dancing skills. I work on the Main Line (Philadelphia) and meet many men and women whose age (on the paper) is completely meaningless, because they are sharp, fit and extremely fashionable individuals.

Ageism in media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOKwjnXt8E&feature=PlayList&p=1EA2973D1B01257E&index=0&playnext=1
Never thought about Obama using the ageism card in his media ads. I supported him all the way to the victory, but now I can see clearly that "out of touch", "cannot use the computer" phrases are very inappropriate when speaking about an elderly person.
Another example I can make is osteoporosis medication, portraying an aging woman with her silhouette changing from straight to with crook on her back and a cane to support her walking. We associate this decease with somebody senior and hardly walking, which is not the case. Women get this decease from age 50 and with proper treatment and early diagnosis, women live ling a healthy lives.
Our stereotyping is in the way of seeing things clearly. Aging baby boomers formed a different kind of seniors. It is a very diverse group which did very well financially and changed our perception of old people. Instead of visiting your grandma and she is expecting you with a plate of cookies and warm milk, she may be involved in yoga class, or a planting class. Cooking is not her hobby anymore. More and more cruise lines cater to elderly as well. Alaska cruises, Caribbean cruises accommodate seniors with the nursing stuff present on board and flexible schedule.
Can you guys think of any other examples of ageism in media? Do you think seniors should be offended?

People add to stereotypes by being afraid of them.

Kathleen Berger, who is the lifespan human development textbook author, initiates the conversation about ageism with an example of a study of older adults who performed poorly on the cognitive test which flashed negative stereotypes about aging.
Words like " decline, dependant, senile, misplaces, dementia, dying, forgetful" were flashed quickly on the screen. Cognitive tasks were performed after that. Another group of adults were shown the positive emotion words related to aging like "wise, guidance, alert, creative, insightful". Second group did much better on the cognitive test that followed. The researcher mentions that younger people performing the same test were not affected at all by this stereotyping, because they did not identify with it.
I usually perform better on my oral presentations when people are understanding of an accent and are interested to hear what I say, not the way I pronounce it. I remember long time in DCCC when a teacher ( not English or speech) offered to listen to my assignment beforehand to make sure of my pronunciation, so "students will understand my presentation", when the only person who did not understand me was the teacher. I was so diffident and shy throught the whole thing that I failed miserably and stuttered through the whole thing confirming the stereotype.
Society needs to promote confidence in elderly as well as stress their intelligence to fight off the negative stereotyping.
Did anyone witness or experienced negative stereotyping against elderly? How did it feel? Did it affect your performance or the performance of a person who experienced it?

Just learning about ageism.

Today I started reading up on ageism and collecting the material.
First, when I read our textbook, could not really figure out what ageism was. The -ism part is really confusing, I guess, I did not have an clear interpretation of the word. In my mind, ageism was a bias attitude expressed by society towards elderly with no actions that really hurt the aging population. Good example would be: waitress being unhappy by elderly couple being assigned to her station, because she knows that they will order a special, plus will share it and tip small. Another example would be: assuming that certain rides in Six Flags would not be appropriate for elderly, or instructor being really upset about an old person signing up for hiking adventure.
After educating myself on the issue, I discovered that ageism runs very deep in fabric of our society with not just attitudes, but actual actions. Health care ageism is obvious as well as media one with working place discrimination to go with it. Does any one think it is a problem? Does anyone think that it should be addressed by the government? Did anyone think about ageism the same way I did?