‘Don’t underestimate the value of experience’
AUSTRALIANS have been reminded of the harmful and damaging effects of stereotyping, discrimination and mistreatment directed towards older Australians.
EveryAGE Counts, is a national coalition of organisations and individuals including the Australian Human Rights Commission, over 30 local government councils and over 100 community based, advocacy and research organisations working together to tackle these issues in the Australian community.
The results last year of an EveryAGE Counts major national survey of over 1000 people aged 50 years and over, revealed that 68 per cent agreed that ageism against older people is a “serious problem in Australia” and this figure increases as people get older.
EveryAGE Counts campaign spokesperson, Robert Tickner, said: “Ageism is not some hollow empty trendy word.”
“There is hard evidence that stereotyping and discrimination against older people is damaging to the health and well-being of older Australians in many areas,” he said. “It often starts when people in their earlier 50’s are denied jobs or promotions.
“Later on in life it is often a root cause and contributor to elder abuse and the mistreatment in aged care as exposed by the Aged Care Royal Commission.”
He said the statistics on unemployment of people over 50 reveal a disturbing trend.
“Twenty years ago one in 20 people who were unemployed were between 50 and 65 but now that figure has doubled to one in 10, and worse, these people make up a much larger group among the long term unemployed,” he said.
“All of us, if we live into our 50’s or older will be impacted by ageism and that is one of the reasons we support intergenerational solidarity.
Older Australians like the rest of the community want to be treated as individuals and not treated differently simply because they are older.”
“There are so many false assumptions about older people which strip them of their agency and right to control their own lives, as our survey also revealed. “Things like false assumptions about the inevitability of dementia as we age, lack of capacity of older people in the workforce when many want to, and are capable of, working, and false assumptions about needing help when many want to be self-reliant. Too often older people are talked down to in the community and in health care which further strips them of their autonomy and dignity.
“Sure some older people may need support but the bottom line is that it is best to see older people as individuals and not make generalised assumptions or gratuitous, thoughtless and offensive jokes about their age.
“Our EveryAGE Counts website (everyagecounts.org.au) features a fabulous publication called ’The Real Old’ which I encourage people to read. It is a myth busting publication blowing false stereotypes about aging out of the water.”
Responding to the Federal Government’s recent Intergenerational report, which highlighted the nation’s ageing population, Monash University’s Dr Pei-Chun Ko said: “Behind such a fiscal prediction drawn from the aging demographic, we may further consider other trends on the population level.”
A gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in an aging population implies a certain level of continuous care required from the health sector and aged care. Besides planning ahead for the care of older adults, it’s important to think about what kind of social infrastructure we can design to sustain the necessary social engagement among older people, reduce the ageism towards older adults, and improve financial wellbeing of older adults. Social and financial wellbeing of older adults will be crucial to empower the agency of this population group,” he said.
Mr Tickner said the nation needed to be a world leader “in the work of tackling ageism and enhancing the quality of life of people growing older in Australia”.