Blog 6:
Ageism is something I have witnessed from time to time while
working with my new boss. I worked with
my former boss for many years before he retired at 67 years of age. My current boss is in his early 30’s and some
of our patients have commented on his looks.
I have heard, “Wow, you look so young!” Are you sure you are a doctor?” and “You are a baby!” “Is today your first
day as a doctor?” I never really thought
about ageism much nor that it was an issue with discrimination for those people
considered younger. Whenever I notice
the doctor feeling bad about some of these comments, I will often say, “Wow, my
feelings are hurt!” “I am not being told
how nice I look.” I feel comfortable
saying this to my patients because I know them well enough to say just about
anything tactfully to them. I feel that
these patients who have made comments regarding how young the doctor looks, are
not trying to be mean or hurtful. I
think they were just accustomed to having a former doctor who was much older
than the current doctor and they are taken aback. By learning more about ageism, I am more
aware of it occurring with younger people and older people. I have learned that our society values youth
to a certain degree as well as being older to a certain degree. Youth is great, so long as it doesn’t make
one question another person’s experience and/or expertise.
Jana
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this story. I am much younger than the staff that I supervise on my job. I feel as if I am often challenged because of my age and often get "I have been doing longer" or "I have been doing this for 20 years". I try to respect my elders but at some point I have stand my ground and not let them feel that they can get over because of my age. Just because I have not been in this business as long as they have does not mean that I am not knowledgeable and dont know what I am talking about.
Jana,
ReplyDeleteAgeism was interesting to me as well, I had never really thought about it before studying in class about the topic. It is sad that we are judged often times because we are younger and the older generation feel as though because we are younger that we don't know or have not lived long enough to know what we have gained skills to do. Thanks for sharing.
A lot of times, when I think about Ageism, I often think about it from an aspect of older individuals, but reading your post reminded me that ageism also applies to young individuals as well. It is a shame that as younger people grow, the older people often make younger individuals feel incapable of holding strong, powerful and influential positions.
ReplyDeleteI can also relate to this. I feel that often people feel that because you are so young that they they don't feel what you have to say is important. It makes me upset because half of the people that have the cocky attitudes are that ones that don't know anything anyways. Sometimes you just have to bite your tongue and let them fall on your face and wait till they ask for your help. I hate to be that way but I have had to because they aren't listening when you try to stop them and tell them there is more to things and try to offer assistance.
ReplyDelete