Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Question M
In my estimation, the root cause of ageism in our culture is the inability to have empathy for the rapidly aging population. Our society has not taken the necessary step to creating a space for families to discuss with their parents before they are not able to make the decision themselves what their preferences is long term care. The movie Living Old did a great job explaining the current state of aging in our culture and how people choose to handle it. The medical advances of our time have allowed people to live longer then ever, and many of times people with serious illness that prevents them from performing daily tasks by themselves has created a need for places for the elderly to live or full time caregivers to come to their homes. I do think that I am ageist, simply for the fact that I am only 21 years old and have no idea what it is really like to not be able to for say walk by my self or cook a meal for myself for example. I have recentally experience this with seeing my grandparents growing older and unable to take care of themselves any longer and how my Moms brothers and sisters have chosen to deal with this. It is easy for me to sit her and say what I think their next step in life is, but am not having to deal with this first hand. I don't think that I know what I want my long term care to be when I grow old and am not able to take care of myself any longer. This is a serious and growing problem in our society today and needs to be addressed to create options for families to have when the time comes to decide what the future looks like when you do need assistance in your daily life.
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I think ageism is a growing issue as well. I dont think many people realize what it really entails to grow old. I too think people need to be made aware of all options regarding an elder person in their lives for care when the time comes. Your blog is great at showing people all about the health aspect of elderly people. i couldnt agree more.
ReplyDeleteAlthough many people don't think ageism is a problem at all, it really is and it's growing. Elderly get discriminated a bunch for just their age which is wrong. I do feel that it has to do with how they age rather than the number in years itself. I feel that a lot of people our age are ageist just because we obviously haven't lived the lives of the elderly. The elderly population is rapidly growing and the problem is just going to start growing larger.
ReplyDeleteI think ageism is becoming more of an issue today than ever before also. In the video growing old, I was surprised to see how many elderly people were living til their late 90's and people are living longer and longer. I agree that the rapidly growing population is starting to grow, making ageism become more and more of a problem. I think that is why we need to start making a different about it now, especially because it is becoming more and more of a problem.
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