Simply put: “We need to stop stereotyping and making assumptions about people based on their age,” says Janine Vanderburg, co-founder of Changing the Narrative, an advocacy group on a mission to end ageism in the workplace and society.
Vanderburg makes a compelling argument that ageism is damaging not just to the individual experiencing it, but to our society, as a whole, on multiple levels. “There’s a lot of research that shows that experiencing ageism in the workplace or elsewhere hurts our physical health, mental health, longevity, and the likelihood of developing dementia. So many things.”
Like many, she says ageism can rear its head in both overt and subtle ways, including in little comments an older workers might hear from co-workers.
“People feel like it’s okay to just stop by your desk and say ‘so, aren’t you going to retire yet?’ Or ‘what are you still doing here?’ That kind of thing. There’s an element about expressing ageist beliefs and stereotypes in the workplace that is still unfortunately really acceptable,” she adds.
Another example she shares is how the prevalent stereotype that older adults are incompetent when it come to technology is both, in her words, “ridiculous and dangerous.”
It also is inaccurate. “That somewhat ignores the fact that in most cases, it is people who are currently – quote – ‘older workers’ who invented tech, who invented the cloud, who have adapted technology over the last three or four decades from rotary phone to smartphones, from typewriters to any kind of device,” say Vanderburg.
Vanderburg also stresses that it’s not just older workers facing stereotypes and discrimination, but younger workers face the same thing and that it’s important to bridge the divide. She adds: “What we have in common as older workers or younger workers is actually far, far greater than any perceived differences that are put out there. And that’s, I think, what we need to hold onto and build on.”
Janine Vanderburg spoke with me on the subject of age, health, and economic wellbeing as part of the Age in America series, a collaboration between WorkingNation and Scripps News Network which began in June.
Watch a clip from our interview below.
Get more of our WorkingNation Age in America articles, videos, and podcasts here.
Get more of Scripps News’ Age in America coverage here.
