In thinking about the readings, what made the greatest impact on me was the systemic undertreatment and misdiagnosis of older adults in healthcare settings due to biases and the lack of proper medical education on geriatrics. This had an impact on me because it exposes how ageism is not just about mean jokes or negative stereotypes but can be a matter of life and death. This taught me that person-centered care is essential and that effective aging practice requires looking beyond a person’s chronological age and focusing on their individual functional health.

Cruikshank highlights how classic literature consistently relies on negative stereotypes of older people—such as being miserly, cranky, or incompetent. Likewise, Dovey discusses the common nature of these basic caricatures in culture, revealing that she struggled with them herself. When first attempting to write characters in their later years, she found she was defaulting to these “easy” types, creating figures like “a generic old man who was crabby and computer illiterate” and “an eccentric old woman who wore magenta-colored turbans” (Dovey, 2015). Both authors agree that these naive portrayals, whether historical or modern, wrongly frame aging as an “alien territory” instead of a complex, diverse, and shared human experience.

In her text, Cruikshank states “just as colonized people may internalize messages about their own inferiority, many old women feel ashamed of their age” (Cruikshank, 2013). Aronson addresses the issue of ageism in both society and the healthcare system. She provides an example of internal ageism, where an older women may internalize the cultural ideal of youthfulness, which often results in them electing for cosmetic surgery to appear younger. Dovey writing, on the other hand, gives an example of internalized ageism by noting her feeling surprised that her appearance is more youthful than her actual age.

Negative assumptions about age are often inserted in our language, which contributes to and effects ageism. In her text, Cruikshank discusses “elderspeak” which is the use of demeaning terms of endearment such as young lady. “Attributing youthfulness to old women, intended as praise, reinforces the idea that being old is bad” (Cruikshank, 2013). Such language enables the stereotype that older adults are less competent or requires a simplified language. Aronson uses the example of using simplified language or “baby talk” when addressing older adults. According to Dovey, the use of phrases like “of a certain age” to replace “old” is problematic because it treats aging as something shameful. I experience this daily at my workplace where the nursing staff speak to the older patients almost in a way parents would speak to their children. In healthcare we’re taught to use simplified language to help the patient understand the treatment they receive which is completely different from using demeaning languages.

I took this course out of curiosity but was surprised at how much new information I learned. Sometimes we don’t focus on certain groups or topics because we assume to know it all; however, I was able to leave this course with an increased knowledge of a population that is often ignored. The issue raised in these reading that I found the most difficult was the language often used to demean older people. The language used by healthcare professionals and society needs to change to reflect that aging is a complex, varied process, not state of decline. In my practice, I would work on reclaiming the word “old” as a neutral descriptor and avoiding “elderspeak” to help foster a more respectful environment. 

Aronson, L. (2021). Elderhood: Redefining aging, transforming medicine, reimagining life. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Cruikshank, M. (2013). Learning to be old: Gender, culture, and aging. Rowman & Littlefield, Publishers.

Dovey, C. (2015, October 1). What old age is really like. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-old-age-is-really-like