Monday, October 16, 2017

"No Donuts for You!"

Recently I've been focusing my reading on topics around ageism.  Part of that reading involves being part of an online discussion group.  Lisa Kendall, LCSW-R, CSW-G is, among her other jobs, a lecturer in gerontology at Ithaca College.  Her online discussion leads up to Ashton Applewhite's presence on that campus next week as the Gerontology Institute's Distinguished Speaker.

Applewhite has written the book, THIS CHAIR ROCKS: A MANIFESTO AGAINST AGEISM. I know I have mentioned on my blog before. It merits mentioning again!  I urge my readers to find a copy and read it.

One of the resources suggested for this online book discussion group was an AARP-produced clip about 'what does old look like?' I found the video was in fact ageist, and made online comments to that effect. Ashton responded with her own, more thorough critique and I was more than delighted that she agreed with me. In her comments, Ashton referred to another short (2:14 minute) AARP video in which "an impressively straight-faced actress disguised as an employee—she deserves an Oscar—refuses to serve anyone over 40. It’s a provocative, hilarious, and bitingly effective social experiment."  The link is here. I hope you will look at it and think about its message.

No comments:

Post a Comment