I am writing as a recent participant of the Action Community Engagement (ACE) Project, sponsored by Yale University, Midwestern University, AgeOptions and Oak Park Township.
I learned there are various ways to challenge negative stereotypes. One that resonated with me and other older adults that I know is the false age stereotype that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and this applies to older people’s inability to learn.
The fact is, there are many positive cognitive changes in older age and there are many techniques to support lifelong learning. Older people can benefit from the same memory strategies that young people use to improve recall. I learned that our brains experience new growth in response to challenges throughout our life span.
We all have the ability to learn and contribute to society, no matter how old we are.
This information is from Dr. Becca Levy’s book Breaking the Age Code: How Your Age Beliefs Determine How Long and Well You Live.
Levy proves in her book that people with positive age beliefs live an average of 7.5 years longer than people who have negative beliefs.
As an Oak Park community, we must continue to celebrate our rich diversity by engaging everyone: the young, middle-aged, and older population. In order to do this, we must be cognizant of structural ageism, which is defined as: age-based discrimination embedded within laws, policies, institutions, and cultural practices at a societal level that impacts older people.
I am now aware of what structural ageism is and how it can negatively impact both older and younger people.
Cheryl Williams
29-year resident of Oak Park
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