Ageism in an ageing world
If you ask the average young person how old is ‘old’, they would say over 50. Ask an older person and they would say over 65.
To complicate things further, chronological age is not necessarily the same as biological, social or psychological age. Some 65-year-olds might look, feel and act younger than someone who is 50.
In any case, the discrepancy in perceptions of ageing fuels stereotypes, one of the issues at the heart of ‘ageism’ – prejudice against older people that causes discrimination.
