YORK, Pa. (WHTM) — It’s not the first “Ageism Awareness Week.”
But this year, the topic is as relevant as ever in a year when one presidential candidate dropped out , under pressure, because of what some people considered ageism but others considered a lack of fitness for the job regardless of age — while another faces some similar questions .
“This is the one ‘ism’ we all have in common,” Cathy Bollinger, executive director of Embracing Aging and TroveStreet in York, said Monday at a seminar marking Ageism Awareness Week.
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“Ageism is how we think, how we feel and how we act toward others based on age — as well as how we act, feel and think about it for ourselves as we grow older,” Bollinger said.
At the same time, Bollinger said ageism — a term widely used to describe negative stereotyping of senior citizens — can also mean the opposite: thinking someone is too young to do the job.
Indeed, presidents like John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — all elected in their 40s — faced questions opposite of the ones faced by President Joe Biden, who is 81, and Donald Trump, who is 78.