Essay On Stigma Of Elderly

Generally speaking, there is a stigma of the elderly because of influences in their environment or the way they may have been raised. It may not sound as serious, but it can affect a person’s individuality and self-worth. Ageism is at best a set of beliefs that can have an impact on people’s lives. people create their own perception of older people because of these influences they may have experienced. another stigma is when a person is old, it is an automatic assumption that they may have a memory or physical disability or both for that matter. I believe the media also plays a substantial role in building the stigma that the elderly is mentally or physically challenged. In the media it seems elderly people are portrayed in a somewhat one sided negative
There are rarely any positive images of older people other than the role of the nice grandparent. Usually what is depicted on television is that they are not in touch with reality mentally and they are weak. You know the “help I’ve fallen and can’t get up” commercial and we always see disabled elderly needing help getting around. Also it seems in the marketing of brands, marketers are obsessed with youth and it is the cost of the elderly. In the advertising and marketing industry, there I see a belief that brand loyalty begins at a young age. But of course there are personal experiences that can influence an individual to generalize their opinion on the whole population of older people. For example, if a person experiences a slow driver that just happens to be an older person and gets behind a slow driver more and more, that person may generalize their opinion as a true fact that all old people are slow drivers just because of their personal run in with slow old drivers. The experience creates that stigma that old people are slow and weak. These types of Influences or experiences can be a big contributor to that stigma that a lot of people