It undoes the “otherness” that powers ageism (and racism and nationalism). “My body’s age is not my age. Medicare exhausted!” and “We can’t afford longevity.”. Ashton Applewhite has tackled the big issue of ageism head-on and compellingly. It’s not such a great skit, but it does certainly reinforce ageist stereotypes. Only the well-off can pursue this goal, which segregates us, sets us up to fail, and fills us with needless dread. It would enforce the Elder Justice Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act”(237). Some twenty percent of the population escapes cognitive decline entirely; we all know some of those sharp nonagenarians. We are not lesser. Could we do things then that we can’t do now? Ashton Aplewhite’s “This Chair Rocks” is the manifesto of The Radical Age Movement. “I don’t mind telling my age, but I know on the job it can cause you a problem, so I always say I’m 104.” Ha! To avoid reducing people to labels or medical diagnoses, disability etiquette prescribes “people first” language: instead of “mentally ill,” saying “people with mental illness;” instead of “autistic” or “epileptic,” saying “people who have autism” or “people who have epilepsy;” instead of “wheelchair-bound” or “confined to a wheelchair,” saying “wheelchair users;” and so on. Ashton Applewhite urges us to dismantle the dread and mobilize against the last socially acceptable prejudice. For most of us—including me, so stay tuned to this blog—that means learning more about disability. The disability is a characteristic of the person; it does not define them. It acknowledges the inevitability of oldness while relegating it to the future — albeit at an ever-smaller remove. Aging and disability are not the same. At the heart of the matter is a deeper one: why do we avoid discussing and dealing compassionately with cognitive decline? Unless we challenge the stigma, we reproduce it”(9). Ageism and ableism— seeing older and disabled people as less valuable members of society— legitimize their appalling abandonment. People live in nursing homes not because they’re old, but because they’re disabled. In our mindless absorption of those messages and numb collusion in our own disenfranchisement,”(9) we allow ageism to undermine our experiences. Ashton Applewhite has tackled the big issue of ageism head-on and compellingly. It would be convenient to attribute that omission to the fact that most older people are not disabled (true but complicated). When an acoustic neuroma destroyed most of the hearing in one ear, I caught myself thinking, “At least it’s sexy brain-tumor-deafness, not sad old-person deafness”—making me both ageist and ableist. Then ask what difference the number makes”(52). New York: Celadon Books, 2019. . Becoming an Old Person in Training bridges the us/them divide and loosens the grip of that exhausting illusion. Disability rates rise steeply after age 75—the fastest-growing age cohort. It’s the misguided belief that being non-disabled is “normal” and that leading meaningful, desirable lives means staying youthful, able-bodied and able-minded. Most forgetfulness is not Alzheimer’s, or dementia, or even necessarily a sign of cognitive impairment. Remember the early messaging about the virus? Then we can see that ageism isn’t in anyone’s best interest, and we can call and work for change. Because growing old is a privilege denied to many black, brown, and disabled people. This is the sort of book that insists on copious pages of notes and oodles of colored sticky flags; so bear with me if I’m quotation-heavy, because no one speaks to ageism better than Ashton Applewhite, said to be “the most prominent anti-ageism activist today”(Baum). Brooklyn-based writer and activist Ashton Applewhite is the author of “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism” (Celadon Books), out now. She is an author, speaker, and activist, who has been recognized by the New York Times, National Public Radio, the New Yorker, and the American Society on Aging as a leading expert on ageism. It’s the same cultural mindset that is destroying our planet and keeping sexist, racist, and other oppressive systems in place. There is no mention of age or ageism. Ashton Applewhite; read by the author. Ashton Applewhite’s TED talk 2017: Let’s end ageism (Credit: Bret Hartman/TED) “If someone assumes that we’re “too young”: ageism cuts both ways, and young people experience a lot of it. (That’s intersectionality—a clunky word for an important concept developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw and other Black feminists.) It robs the caricatures of crone and geezer of their power and frees us to become our full — our ageful — selves. Just as different forms of oppression compound and reinforce each other, so do different forms of advocacy and education: when we confront any prejudice, we chip away at the fear and ignorance that underlie them all. When asked for your age, identify as “age-nonconforming.”, Author and environmental activist Colin Beavan did something similar when he announced on Facebook that he was “coming out as age queer. How basic is that? That’s why I’m delighted to announce the release of Ageist? Obviously, the subject’s age belongs in obituaries and profiles of child prodigies but I believe its reflexive inclusion in other stories is nothing but a bad habit. It’s also the sustainable, ethical, and joyful path, and I’m glad to be on it. She and Theresa Dintino created Nasty Women Writers, where the review first appeared, “to amplify the voices and messages of powerful women . In a world increasingly segregated by race and class as well as by age, reaching over those divisions to acknowledge the one path we’ll all travel is a radical act. The intersection of ageism and ableism is where many of our darkest fears reside. She also notes the values most admired in the industrialized world — high personal and economic productivity — do little to help us age. “The ugly truth about ageism: it’s a prejudice targeting our future selves.” The Guardian, 14 Sept 2018. But those worries are hugely out of proportion to reality, and the dread itself puts us at higher risk. Painstakingly because Applewhite takes the time to expose ageism in all the ways it manifests in our culture, the damage it inflicts, and ways to change course. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces Applewhite's journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in … When someone asks “How old are you?” Tell the truth. But they overlap in ethically and tactically important ways: There are a lot of us, and our numbers are growing. Copyright © 2019 Ashton Applewhite. There are plenty of ways to clue readers in the rare event that it’s relevant to the story. “Older Adults at greater risk of requiring hospitalization or dying if diagnosed with COVID-19,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dec 13, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-... [v] Yet Americans with intellectual disabilities, “COVID-19 Infections And Deaths Are Higher Among Those With Intellectual Disabilities,” by Joseph Shapiro, National Public Radio, June 9, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/872401607/covid-19-infections-and-deaths-are-higher-among-those-with-intellectual-disabili, [vi] a job more deadly than logging or deep-sea fishing, “How Many of These 68,000 Deaths Could Have Been Avoided?” New York Times Editorial Board, Sept 5, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-nursing-homes-deaths.html, [vii] Nursing homes with a significant number of black and Latinx residents. This goes for the baby who is now 5 and the 30-year-old who is now 50. The information feels foundational, but it isn’t. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, her book This Chair Rocks (Celadon Books, 2019) traces her journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. This excerpt from my book ran on TED’s “Ideas” page under the title Rather than identifying as old, young or middle-aged, be an “old person in training” instead. Ashton Applewhite is a leading voice in an emerging movement dedicated to dismantling ageism and honoring age as a vibrant and necessary aspect of diversity. The younger vote went to the Remain camp in Thursday’s fateful referendum, while older voters opted for Leave. That means we make them up, and they change over time. The list could go on forever, because it’s the natural order of things. Envisioning her won’t make it happen, but I sure can’t get there without the aspiration. “Age-friendly communities aren’t just wheelchair- and walker-friendly, they’re gurney- and skateboard- and stroller- and bus-passenger- and delivery-guy- and tired-person friendly. To me, ageism seems an extension of a consumeristic society, a culture that views almost everything as disposable. That has to change. Either way, I’m elated that I finally read it and I’m ready to make noise about this! Copyright © 2019 Ashton Applewhite. London’s Groucho Club was founded as “an antidote to stuffy gentlemen’s clubs,” and when they invited me to be their book club’s featured author this month, I said you bet. Ageist and ableist assumptions—that aging is awful and disability is tragic—harm every older and/or developmentally disabled person, no matter their age or place in the world. Applewhite has been recognized by The New York Times, National Public Radio, the New Yorker, and the American Society on Aging as an expert on ageism. But Applewhite debunks these notions and as she does, I sense a veil lifting, revealing the truth and the way it should and could be. 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). 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