“The ugly truth about ageism: it’s a prejudice targeting our future selves.” The Guardian, 14 Sept 2018. It is the natural process of life. When thinking about ageing stereotypes, perhaps the most common image that comes to mind is that of the rocking chair. Ashton Applewhite once held these beliefs too until she realized where this prejudice comes from and the damage it does. Last Christmas one of my sisters gave me a copy of the book This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, by Ashton Applewhite.. Perhaps it’s because I’m creeping closer to turning 60 that I finally decided to read it, or perhaps it’s because I’m creeping closer to 60 that I kept it at bay for so long, collecting dust on a shelf for the better part of a year. Hill, Amelia. That we are aging…. We were young once and living in the world we inherited, and we’re getting older day by day, living in that same world, slightly altered by our own doing! To me, ageism seems an extension of a consumeristic society, a culture that views almost everything as disposable. This statement hit me hard and I am now keenly aware of when I experience this distaste for my aging self. And when she and Stein started contacting publishers about This Chair Rocks, she says, “It was kind of astonishing to not get any inkling that the publishers are doing anything differently than they were when I … Learn more. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces her journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. New York: Celadon Books, 2019. Ashton Applewhite Tour The EveryAGE Counts campaign is very excited to host the 2019 Australian speaking tour of US anti-ageism campaigner, Ashton Applewhite . Working on a college campus, I’m well aware that ageism goes both ways and I speak up when I hear ageism being hurled toward the youngers: Ashton Applewhite’s TED talk 2017: Let’s end ageism (Credit: Bret Hartman/TED). Ashton will be in conversation with award-winning journalist, author and commentator Madonna King. We can do better and we’d ALL benefit if we did do better! It begins as a distaste for others, and in the case of age (as opposed to race or sex), it turns into a distaste for oneself”(16-17). on: function (event, callback) { When I experience this, I turn it around to an appreciation of this stage of the life span, one where there is no shortage of ambition, joy, and beauty, if we chose to see it, as we do in the other phases of life. That’s what’s going on when people grumble about lazy Millennials or complain that “kids are like that”(9). Applewhite challenges our notion that the majority of olders languish in facilities: “Only 2.5 percent of Americans over sixty-five live in nursing homes,”(40) and she challenges our notion that olders no longer have an interest in sex: “Sex and arousal do change, but often for the better, especially for women”(5). Like all discrimination, ageism legitimizes and sustains inequalities between groups, in this case, between the young and the no-longer-young. But this has no bearing on our worth and how we should be treated. Ashton Applewhite would like us to think differently about growing older. This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, Ashton Applewhite Perfect Paperback, 288 pages Published March 15th 2016 by Networked Books, Inc. 0996934707 (ISBN13: 9780996934701) It’s the same cultural mindset that is destroying our planet and keeping sexist, racist, and other oppressive systems in place. “Like the ongoing movements that continue to challenge entrenched systems of racism and sexism, overcoming ageism is going to take a lot of determined people of all ages working to overturn “the way things are.” That means a lot of uncomfortable reassessments, difficult conversations, and outright conflict, not just over healthcare and housing but about when we stop valuing people, and why – not because we grow old, but because we do so in an ageist world. In 2016, she joined the PBS site Next Avenue’s annual list of 50 Influencers in Aging as their Influencer of the Year. A couple of parting quotes from Applewhite’s manifesto to further entice you to read and share it: “It’s harder to unlearn than to learn, especially when it comes to values. } window.mc4wp = { “not only because segregation impoverishes our lives but because the exchange of skills and stories across generations makes sense in so many arenas, from kitchen to conference room, from learning a language to mastering a sport, from art to astronomy. This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. }); Passive and withdrawn - in motion without getting anywhere. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin: Ambisexuality, both male and female in the same body, explored in a novel written in 1969 by one of the greatest thinkers of our time. Wonder whether something you've seen or heard—or done—is ageist? (Can we get rid of the word lazy since it seems like a cover for disappointed, deflated, sad, bored?). Ashton Applewhite. The motives, dangers and short-sightedness of segregation in a nutshell. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces her journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. Then ask what difference the number makes”(52). The website offers videos and resources to raise awareness about ageism, including a guide to help start consciousness raising groups about ageism. 27 May 2016. I am ready to make noise, not only because I’m turning 60 and am on the receiving end of this prejudice more often, but because after reading Applewhite’s book, I can see how entrenched it is in our culture. We’re ageist when we feel or behave differently toward a person or a group on the basis of how old we think they are…Ageism isn’t a household word yet, nor a sexy one, but neither was “sexism” until the women’s movement turned it into a howl for equal rights”(8). And let’s hear it for UNIVERSAL DESIGN, a concept that’s been around since at least the 1980s! 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