As the Chief Gerontology Officer at the American Society on Aging, Leanne Clark-Shirley is a passionate advocate for fighting ageism, wherever it appears (even if it shows up in our own thoughts). In this interview, she talks about three main area where ageism harms older adults: Healthcare, climate change, and public policy.
Among her observations:
The medical community sees old age only as a time of decline, when patients need help. It ignores the ways we are stronger and better.
In one year, $63 billion of Medicare spending is directly attributable to ageism.
“Older adults” is not a single group. In fact, the older we get the more diverse we become.
We need to take the limitations of age out of the equation when we talk about climate change. Our chronological age should not limit our motivation to take action.
There is no national long-term care system. We have a fragmented system with no national public policy to support it.
Medicare provides nursing home care for the poor. Private enterprise provides assisted living for the affluent. There is no policy suggesting what to do about the vast majority in the middle.
“Multi-sector plans for aging” at the state level show promise for developing better policy on aging.
You can learn more about Leanne Clark-Shirley and the American Society on Aging at the website http://asaging.org.
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