Carol Goar’s Perspective on Senior Citizens Take on Carewatch and Ageism as Written in Goar

According to the article “Senior Citizens are Mobilizing Against Ageism: Goar,” written by Carol Goar of the Toronto Star, people in the Canadian community are striving to make a difference towards ageism. Carewatch is a social action committee. They have discovered that ageism is present in many shapes in forms. They noted that ageism is seen in many places: in government, business, fashion, the media, social services, and advertising. The author noted that there was a three step process that the city is using in order to fight ageism. The first step is to take back the title “senior citizens”. Older citizens in Canada do not appreciate the fact that they aren’t being recognized as senior citizens. Most people refer to these older adults as seniors only. Many senior citizens feel like society should not shorten the phrase to only one word, and that it is important to include both words. The second goal was to provide senior citizens adequate home care through designed funding. The third goal is to get other organizations involved to help solve the problem of ageism in Toronto, Canada.

Carewatch is a fifteen year nonprofit that consists of “a voluntary group of active, informed senior citizens”. Their goal is to be able to be more involved in society. Through this nonprofit, the group hopes that senior citizens have the opportunity to have more control, respect, and human rights. Based on the article, it is said that ageism is the only form of discrimination that is still generally accepted in Canada. Carewatch hopes to put an end to this, where senior citizens can live self-sufficiently with the right support services. One problem that they addressed is that senior citizens tend to keep their age a secret. Whether it is their appearance, form of speech, or the way they act, senior citizens try not to reveal their age. Part of the problem was recognized by Neysmith. Ageism is present in government, business, fashion, the media, social services, and advertising. For example, not one senior citizen was placed in a brochure advertisement for the Pan Am Games Secretariat. Neysmith is hoping to “convince other organizations that the best way to get actions was to band together.”

Ageism is known as the discrimination and stereotyping of older adults. This concept is present in Toronto, Canada, as well as the rest of the world. Ageism can really affect the elderly in a negative manner. This has the power to instill a fearing about getting older. This could lead to dependency, segregation, and the mistreatment of the elderly. It is unfortunate how ageism really separates “younger people” from “older people”. This type of inequality is unfair because the elderly are given less power. The way print media and electronic media portray older adults is unfair. In this case, older adults were not included in a brochure advertisement. Ageism is demonstrated in many ways. Ageism is present in the workplace. For example, they are not given many opportunities compared to workers who are younger than them. This includes not receiving any training, compensation, or promotions.

I only hope that Carewatch’s efforts follow through. I would have to agree with their efforts. I believe that one way to help push this idea forward is by working with other organizations. By doing this, this will spread more awareness about the unfair treatment of the elderly. This can eventually lead to some sort of response, with a step towards giving the elderly what they truly deserve – human rights, respect, and home care. What I didn’t realize was the fact that the eldery try to hide their age. That was a statement that really surprised me. I didn’t take notice of that until I started reading this article. Although this may happen, society should be supportive of senior citizens regardless. We shouldn’t perpetuate these negative perceived ideas with the elderly. The creation of this nonprofit may not seem important to many, but I feel like it is a great idea. I hope that this type of discrimination gets put to rest in the near future.