Don't Stereotype Me: How Ageism Shapes Our Society and What We Can Do About It

When we think about discrimination in America, we often focus on racism, sexism, and other "-isms" that dominate public discourse. Yet one form of bias remains remarkably invisible—so normalized that most of us don't recognize it even when we perpetrate it: ageism. During a recent livestream conversation hosted by the Positive Aging Community, gerontologist and Aging Life Care manager Rebecca Lippel challenged an audience to examine how ageism infiltrates nearly every corner of our daily lives—from the language we use to the products we buy to the way we treat older adults in our families and workplaces. What emerged was both eye-opening and unsettling: ageism isn't something we hide. We advertise it, we laugh at it, and we pass it down to our children without a second thought. "I think after seeing so many blatant, incorrect perceptions of the aging process, it just fired me up," Lippel explained. "Unlike the other isms, sexism, racism, what have you, a lot of times the ageism issues are just, 'I didn't realize that. I didn't realize that those words were being discriminatory.'" The Scope of the Problem The context for this conversation is significant. By 2030, every Baby Boomer in America will be 65 or older. By 2040, there will be more than twice as many Americans 65 and older as there were in the year 2000. We are experiencing what researchers call a "silver tsunami"—a massive demographic shift that our society is largely unprepared for. Meanwhile, the face of aging itself is transforming. Life expectancy in 2024 stands at approximately 79 years overall, with women averaging 84 and men 75. More dramatically, we're seeing unprecedented growth in the population of centenarians. People are living longer, more active, and more engaged lives than at any point in human history. Yet our cultural narratives about aging haven't caught up with this reality. Language as a Gateway to Discrimination