I think that generational discrimination has been prevalent for a long time and is seen commonly still today unfortunately. I also think that there is a stigma associated with both younger and older generations. The grouping and naming of generations and classifying people solely on that categorization is a big issue when it comes to age discrimination. For example “Okay Boomer” is an insult used by younger generations to make fun of the ideas of the baby boomer generation. Likewise, Millennial’s are being categorized as lazy, complacent, and wanting participation trophies and Gen Z are known for eating Tide Pods.
In a workplace where there is a large age range of employees where age discrimination can become very obvious to see. I have seen patients question the skill set of a Physical Therapist because she “looked young” despite the fact that she has a doctorate and a license to practice physical therapy. On the other hand, older people who did not grow up in the age of technology get called out on being slower learning or struggling with media and technology and “being stuck in the old ways” of doing things. Another age discrimination that society plays a part in is the idea of when to retire. The normal age that we hear is often 65. However, if a person is still mentally, physically and willing to continue to work then they should be able to without fear of forced retirement. Other age related discrimination in the workplace can include: seeing a pattern of only younger employees being hired, experiencing layoffs, getting denied a promotion or being isolated from anther age group. The Age Discrimination Act of 1967 helps to protect those individuals above 40 from those things previously mentioned.
Overall, I think people can sometimes see others just through the lens of their own generational patterns rather than recognizing that the ways in which each generation was raised was different and under vastly different circumstances. I think to lessen the prevalence of age and generational discrimination we as a society need to think twice and consider a person for more than just their age and what generation they grew up in and realize that we all bring something to the table that is different and appreciate that.
Conversations on Healthy Aging 