I found myself reading back on a piece I wrote for The Ethics Centre back in 2019, ahead of a debate they were hosting on that topic at Sydney’s Town Hall. I was working on the EveryAGE Counts Campaign at the time and one of our campaign spokespeople, Jane Caro, was invited to be part of the debate. It was also a great opportunity to preview that we were bringing ageism activist, Ashton Applewhite, out to Australia from Brooklyn to do some consciousness raising around the country.

In those days, campaigning about ageism was my job, but it was never just my job. In fact, I had long been interested in the concept of ageism, despite there being very little acknowledgement or discussion about it in the public sphere. After 9 years writing about ageing and older people, ageing policy and aged care, I’d arrived at the conclusion that pretty much every negative experience associated with being an older person arises because, as a society, we fear and devalue ageing and older people.

Above: Ashton Applewhite

Then, in 2015, during a visit to New York, I was introduced to Ashton Applewhite. (In fact I was introduced to Ashton by the fabulous Debra Rappaport, one of the Advanced Style women but that’s another whole story…). Over a visit to an East Village art gallery and a couple of cocktails nearby, Ashton told me about her blog (This Chair Rocks) and her all but complete manuscript for a ‘manifesto’ of the same title. One thing led to another, as sometimes happens: Kismet.

In the early days of EveryAGE Counts, it was often a struggle trying to get people on board, especially as spokespeople. One of the sad aspects of ageism is that we are all so complicit in this prejudice against our selves (even if it is our future self). So many people we talked to could see the point we were making but, well… speaking out on ageism would suggest that they might be…old! “And sorry, I can’t afford to draw attention to my age, not at this point in my career; and, well, maybe you should talk to someone who is older than me?” I’m not kidding. It sometimes felt that we were asking them to speak out on a sexually transmitted infection. So it was terrific that the marvellous Jane Caro was prepared to put her voice and face and reputation to the cause. She is still doing it.

Above: Jane Caro at the Ethics Centre debate at Sydney Town Hall.

There has been quite a bit of progress in the last five years. Ten years ago, you pretty much never heard the term, ageism in mainstream contexts. And when it was raised, it needed explanation. To be fair, it often still does. But there is progress and some momentum and it has to be said that Ashton Applewhite’s month-long visit and national media tour here in November 2019 had a significant impact. The Australian Association of Gerontology (gerontology being the study of ageing) has just established a Special Interest Group on ageism, which I have joined. I’ll let my academic colleagues there shoulder the research but I’m looking forward to getting back on the agesim advocacy horse this year.

If you want to understand a little bit more about ageism, you can’t go past Ashton Applewhite’s 11 minute TED talk from 2017 . It is the place to start. And more from me soon too.