How Elderspeak Perpetuates Bias
Ageism and Elderspeak Are a Thing, and They Aren’t Cool. One of the big things I’m learning as a student of Gerontology is that ageism is real and it is exceedingly harmful, and that elderspeak is one way ageism manifests in our relationships with older adults. We shouldn’t embrace either, capiche?
According to the World Health Organization, ageism is: “The stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or ourselves based on age. It is pervasive, affects people of all ages from childhood onwards and has serious and far-reaching consequences for people’s health, well-being and human rights. Globally, 1 in 2 people are ageist against older people and in Europe, younger people report more perceived ageism than other age groups.”
We are constantly confronted with it in the media, images of frail, cranky and grey-haired adults in ads and shows and characters projecting personas that are cognitively and physically impaired or incapable of learning new things. In healthcare, many older adults face ageism in the way they receive medical treatment or advice with some physicians assuming a patient’s symptoms are “just part of being old.”
A 2022 study from the University of Oklahoma, Norman and the University of Michigan points to the ubiquitous nature of ageism. Of the older adults surveyed, 93 percent had experienced one of the 10 forms of ageism they studied, which include statements like “people insist on helping me with things I can do on my own” or “people assume I have difficulty with cell phones and computers.”
While ageism is abhorrent in any context, it is particularly prevalent and devastating in the workplace. A recent study from AARP indicates 78 percent of older workers have experienced age discrimination at work, a figure that tops the charts since AARP started tracking this data in 2003.
A 2020 review of 422 studies of 7 million participants around the world, the largest study of its kind, found ageism creates negative outcomes for older adults in 96 percent of the studies reviewed. Ageism is not only rude, crude and socially unacceptable, it is injurious and even lethal.
So, let’s stop here and let me share another important fact from my Gerontology studies. To avoid promoting ageism in daily communication, language and engagements, you must purge ageist terms from your vocabulary. Those words include seemingly acceptable, and sadly common words like elderly, senior citizen, old people and yes, Boomer. Instead, describe an adult by their age (65-year-old woman), by their age range (adults 65-plus) or by the always accurate, inclusive catch-all, “older adults.” Just say older adults and you’ll do you part in curbing ageism in conversation.
Another kind of word or phrasing to look out for is talk described in Gerontology circles as “elderspeak.” This term came up over and over again in my Gerontology master’s studies at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
Elderspeak is defined as a modified form of speech used by younger adults when communicating with older adults. It is characterized by simplified vocabulary and sentence structure, slower speech, exaggerated intonation, and the use of overly-endearing terms like “sweetie” or “dear” Elderspeak often stems from stereotypes about older adults having reduced cognitive abilities and can be perceived as patronizing or disrespectful.
It also impacts how older patients respond in healthcare and social settings.
So, the next time you call someone who’s older than you “Honey” or “Sweetheart” or something worse, consider if you would like someone calling you that. Ageism is real and you don’t want to be the one who makes accepting it okay.
