Elderly Disadvantaged by Environment

Patient falls and breaks hip at the hands of inadequate traffic signals

“I witnessed ageism from a green-man crossing signal. It did not happen to me, but it happened to a woman at a road crossing, within the last month. This women was attempting to cross at a crossing but the green man did not give her enough time, subsequently she rushed and fell, breaking her hip.

 [This is ageism because] there was a lack of accommodation to the fact that some citizens cannot move as fast as others.

This made me feel angry, but made the woman feel humiliated.”

Lack of Respect Towards Children

38 year old women observes that ageism affects us all

“I notice (and understand the reasons behind) the assumptions made by older people towards children.  However they often show them a lack of respect. I feel sad, that ageism occurs by people of all ages to all ages.”

Age Biases in Different Professions

Examples of how age-based assumptions vary by profession 

“When I was a newly qualified social worker and in my early 20’s. I experienced colleagues who doubted my ability to do my job, assuming I had limited life experience.  Service users also reacted in the same way and often preferred to deal with older workers.

My husband has also experienced ageism in trying to get a training contract and employment in the law, a profession that prefers people in their 20’s. This is a known fact and even some firms allude to preferring younger applicants on their websites.

 [This is ageism because] both instances made assumptions about our abilities/capabilities based on a generalised notion of age.

[This made me feel] frustrated, angry, foolish, and disheartened. It has made me less likely to equate age with experience necessarily and also I feel frustrated with society for limiting the chances of older people in the workplace”

When's the Right Age for Politics?

Candidate told to "come back in 10 years time"

"I put myself forward for Parliamentary selection in my home town and made the final shortlist of candidates.  During the selection process, I spoke with many members of the local party and was taken aback by one particular comment.  This was that I was too young to be standing and I should "come back in 10 years".  I explained that in 10 years time I would be 45 and could not predict whether my life circumstances would allow me to put myself forward at that time.  I explained I felt I had enough relevant experience and that I had been successfully shortlisted on the basis of this.

[This is ageism because] "the woman judged my ability of the arbitrary basis of my age, with no reference to the experience and other qualities that I would bring to the role."

"I felt frustrated that while working to improve attitudes towards older people in my day job - the value of experience, wisdom and perspective they can bring - I found myself being told I was no good because I had yet to reach a specific age by which time I would be deemed 'good enough'.  I also felt that this was one reason why women don't get on in politics and public life - they're always too young until they're too old - and in between maybe children and careers and battling gender stereotypes."

"It reminded me that having positive attitudes towards older people's value does not mean that they will necessarily see the value of what you may bring at a younger age.  As with all forms of discrimination, there is a tendency to write people off who do not conform to someone's idea of the ideal stereotype.  Age, disability, gender and other factors are not irrelevant - they make us who we are and diversity has an intrinsic value - but writing people off as too old or too young regardless of ability and suitability for the role is nonsensical and pure prejudice."

Patronising Health Care

"I don't want to get old as people do not respect you or consider that you are important"

"My 79 year old mother felt unwell so I called the GP to her home, after 3 requests he finally arrived.  He walked through the door looked at my mother and said "So how are you then, and if you say alright I am out of that door".  He spoke to her as if she was 6 years old and could not hear or understand him.  My mother was perfectly lucid 'normal' and could hear very well, she did not go to the doctors on a regular basis.  The GP did not examine my mother but asked her a couple of questions then diagnosed  water infection.  His manner was very patronising and he treated her like a child.  I found this very annoying and disgusting that someone who did not abuse the NHS service was not receiving any respect or any service."

"I felt very angry that a 79 year old who was unwell was not receiving medical treatment and diagnosis. I feel that I don't want to get old as people do not respect you or consider that you are important."

Qualifications vs. Relevant Experience?

60 year old male reveals hidden age bias in application processes

"I am an assistant lecturer at a British university and was enthusiastically encouraged over several months by my head of department and his Director of Research to apply for a tenured post. Negotiations about the exact nature of my future employment were discussed in some detail, even down to how many days I would work for the department, whether I was likely to produce an REF-able book by the deadline of summer 2013, how much time I would have available to write, and how I might contribute to the department's research aims. At the same time, the head of department started to come under pressure to employ only a candidate with a PhD, because the university wanted to enhance the department's research profile. I do not have a PhD but I have been active in the field all my life, and have in fact published more widely than any other member of staff - not in refereed journals but in professional journals that cover the field in question. When the advert for the job was eventually published, it made possession of  PhD an essential criterion, not a desirable criterion, and as a result my application was immediately filtered out of the selection process. A very much younger candidate was chosen, with very limited proven impact."

"PhDs are rather rare in my field, and were even rarer when I was at university. Since the arrival of HEFCE in 1993, however, PhDs are becoming much more common, to the point of now being the minimum entry requirement for even junior or "early career" lectureships. As a result, there is a built-in bias against giving tenured employment to anyone of my age, because I grew up in a climate where PhDs were not expected and not normal."

[This made me feel] "Very, very miserable: I had been given the impression by the staff in this department that their enthusiasm for me would carry me through, and that they really saw me as a fully-functioning future member of staff with a huge amount to contribute. I told my wife that a new phase of my life was about to take off. Even my Director of Research had been delighted at the idea of someone of my age and experience becoming an early career lecturer - an event that could have expanded the nature of early-career academic research as performed by young academics."

"I already knew that the stakes were loaded against people of my age in the jobs market, but I had not realised that this loading was institutionalised and not just personal. Often, people don't choose older candidates because there's a natural tendency to favour the young, who are also more easily manipulated by older staff (especially in the contest for promotion) but also more easily forgiven for mistakes. I did not realise that the bias against older candidates was also a reflection of formal processes."

Competence judgements clouded by young age

25 year old tells how she is 'continuously underestimated' at work

"In a review at work (I am a support worker for young adults with learning disabilities), I was told by my boss that I could not hope to understand some of the issues affecting some of the service users that I support "because you are too young" and was patronisingly told that it wasn't my fault as I simply had not had time to mature yet! My boss then likened me too other staff who are 19 years old and completely choose to ignore the fact that I am in fact very mature for my age and have a first class degree in psychology with clinical psychology and received 90% in my module relating to people with learning disabilities. He also chose to completely ignore reviews from my manager who works directly above me who said that I was one of the most capable and insightful members of staff in the entire company."

[I think this is ageism] "Because my boss refused to see clear evidence of my competence, and preferred to simply view me as "young" and stereotyping me as incompetent and immature."

[This made me feel] "Shocked. Undermined. Irritated. Infuriated. I felt also felt defeated, as though all my hard work was pointless and all my future efforts were pointless if he would continue refuse to see me as an individual and fail to acknowledge who I actually am and what I am really capable off. 6 months later I still work for him, and am still continuously underestimated."

The boss was estimated to be 45 years old.