ASHTON APPLEWHITE:
AUTHOR & ANTI-AGEISM ACTIVIST
What is Ageism? Ableism? What are everyday ageism’s? What can we do to liberate ourselves from the challenges of aging?
Hello, Happy New Year, and welcome back to Loving Later Life! I am so excited for you to hear this conversation that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t said what the f*ck! I’ve always said, it never hurts to ask, and I am walking that walk these days.
About a month ago on a Sunday my mom sent me a clip of a segment from CBS Sunday Morning that she happened to see and thought I’d find interesting. Not only was she correct, I was also pulled to reach out to one of their featured guests even though I feared it would be a long shot.
Loving Later Lifer’s, I am beyond happy to say that Ashton Applewhite said yes.
Ashton is an internationally recognized expert on ageism, and the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. A co-founder of the Old School Anti-Ageism Clearinghouse, she speaks widely at venues that have included the TED mainstage, the United Nations and is at the forefront of the emerging movement to raise awareness of ageism and to dismantle it. In 2022 the Decade of Healthy Aging, a UN + WHO collaboration, named Ashton one of the Healthy Aging 50: fifty leaders transforming the world to be a better place to grow older.
I know without a doubt that you will find this a compelling conversation. Treat yourself to this 47-minute episode to gain awareness about this ‘ism’ that can be used as a catalyst for change.
Not be missed take-ways:
1. Aging is not just something sad that old people do. It is how we move through life. We’re all aging from the minute we’re born.
2. Young people also experience ageism.
3. Ageism is any judgement about people or a group of people on the basis of how old we think they are. WHO (World Health Organization) defines it as: how we think, feel, act about aging.
4. Ableism: It is a prejudice and discrimination on the basis of physical or mental capacity.
5. It’s hard to get old in an ageist, and sexist, misogynist, capitalist society.
6. “Everyday ageisms” is a term that came from Julie Ober Allen. It talks to the way in which age is referred, that are almost always negative. Trendier term: microagression ie: you look good for your age.
7. Practice asking for help. People love helping. It makes them feel good.
8. Any action you take, changes the culture and the first most critical starting point is to examine your own attitudes toward age and aging.
9. We’re all biased.
10. Even if all you do is think about how you use the words old and young, you’ll start to use them differently.
11. Any change in ourselves ripples outward. It’s never too late, it’s never too small, the only way to screw up is not to try.
12. Looking at something that scares you always makes it less scary, no matter what it is.
13. Learn as much as you can and it will liberate you.
To find Ashton Applewhite:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThisChairRocks
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thischairrocks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AshtonApplewhiteVideos
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashton-applewhite-64658/
And your mission, that I hope you’ll choose to accept…
1) Take time to learn more about ageism. A good place to start is to read Ashton’s book. You can go to thischairrocks.com for the scoop on the book and for free content as well.
2) Take time to reflect on how you view aging. How does it affect how you feel and perhaps how it makes others feel. As Ashton said,
3) Learn as much as you can and it will liberate you.
Thank you so much for listening! And until the next time, live passionately, vulnerably, and keep loving later life!
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