What we are seeing now is more of a discussion around what ‘older’ means and when it starts.
Age and mental attitude really does count in tackling age discrimination.
People are resisting lumping all ‘over 70s’ together, acknowledging the massive variety of experience in different people’s lives from ages 70 to 100+.
As a result it’s as impossible to lump together this whole group as it is to put people from age 10 to 40 in the same category.
Therefore, assuming teenagers have the same life experiences as 30+-year-olds is clearly ludicrous. Yet creating a lumpen group that puts 70-year-olds with 90-year-olds isn’t met with the same degree of automatic derision.
However, if anything, we become more diverse as we age, given the variety of our experiences across the lifespan.
So yes, take a moment you self to consider that age and mental attitude really does count because it really counts for everyone!
Inspired by Alex Rotas, photographer of older competitive athletes, writer, and activist.