Aging in Today's World

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When you think of the term senior citizen what comes to mind? Do the words disabled and old come to mind, or do you visualize wisdom and patience? The word old is looked upon in todays society as a “dirty” word. Yet we will all be old someday. Ageism-the discrimination according to a persons age is a known stereotype just as racial, or religious discrimination. We must end this way of thinking soon or else our elders will feel unwelcome in their jobs and in their communities.

Age discrimination in the Employment Act has not been enough to restrict ageism. Like all stereotypes age discrimination views older people as sickly and unskillful. Companies criteria for hiring, firing, and salary decisions are still based on age even after the Employment Act was passed in 1967.The Fair Employment Council in Washington researched how companies dealt with their older employees. In the study it is seen that companies raise their profits by replacing their older employees for younger employees which equals a cut in payroll.

Duke University held a long-term care survey in 1982 that sho...

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