Ageism: The Issue Of Age Discrimination In Our Society

In our society, we tend to discriminate people for their height, skin colour, gender and etc. We inadvertently sort people based on their physical appearance that they possess. One of this is age.
The term ageism was first introduced by Robert N. Butler back in 1969. According to the textbook, ageism is the prejudice and discrimination on the basis of age such as their physical appearance, disrespect and abuse. Ageism is a serious issue that older people face around the world. Most of them face things like stereotypes, getting disrespected and insults. Age discrimination is frequently not taken seriously unlike other types of discrimination. However, it does have a huge social, economic and psychological effect on older people.
First and foremost, one of the stereotypes that older people face is having no interest or capacity in doing sexual activity. Also, the society sees older people as humans who can’t learn new things in life. Another example would be a burden to anyone because they are weak and can’t do anything but stay in bed. Finally, the society sees older people as boring and forgetful individuals.
In sports like basketball, ageism also exists. In the NBA, players who are over 35 years old were often referred as an old man. An example would be Vince Carter. When he was in his prime, he did one of the most amazing
dunks you could ever see because of his astonishing athleticism. He is often called as the best dunker of all time but now he’s 39 years old and every time he steps on the court, he’s often been called an old man or an old geezer, which is half the age of a senior citizen.
Culturally, different countries see aging people differently. For example, Philippines and other Asian countries like Japan; older people are seen as intelligent people and experienced in life. They’re well appreciated and possess a positive influence in society. While other countries like Canada, United States and other European countries, older people were seen as people with zero value. According to survey, “a poll of 1,500 Canadians found eight in 10 believe seniors age 75 and older are seen as less important and are more ignored than younger generations.” (http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ageism-widespread-in-canada-survey-finds-1.1021641)
My picture is the best explanation of this topic because a nursing home care is a place where the senior citizens get continual nursing care called activities of daily living. Basically, most of the old people who got sent to nursing homes are treated like babies. One of the reasons why they got sent to nursing homes is because their children, who are now parents, have no time taking care of them because they have their own lives too. To ensure the best possible health care for their aging parents without much supervision, they send them to nursing homes.
The other two topics that I would’ve have chose for my selfie are heterosexism and social change because those are the two things that sensitive to talk these days especially with heterosexism where homosexual people get discriminated and disrespected to other societies and countries.
On the other hand, social change was a big part in the history of human society with much civil rights movement. I chose ageism as my topic because ever since I came to Canada, it’s been bothering me why most old people are sent to nursing homes instead of their own children taking care of them in return for the things they also did for them when they were
young.