The Impact of Stereotypes on the Elderly

The Impact of Stereotypes on the Elderly

Is this how the elderly should feel?

                             The elderly have gone through so much criticism and stereotypes for so long, but when will it all come to an end? When will older people be provided with better opportunities, higher respect, and most importantly, decent acts of kindness. In today's times, the elderly are characterized by many to be more forgetful, as well as having a short memory span. Due to this, people get the idea that the older civilians are unable to learn and process new information. It is also thought that they lose much of their abilities to do what they used to, causing them to become sad and hopeless as well. Sure the elderly do not walk as good as they used to, or see as good as they could before, or have wrinkly skin, but that does not mean someone has the right to call them ugly, sick, or disabled.                                           Now that the stereotypes against the elderly are understood, let's take a look at how it affects their everyday life. They cause negative effects for the older adults because they then believe the criticism, and do not try as hard as they should. This then becomes a loss for the community and the people around them. The older adults then decide to blame not being able to do something on the ideology that is was because they were old, rather than the fact that they did not put as much effort into what they were trying to accomplish. Their behaviors might even start to become more persistent with the ones mentioned in the stereotypes, even if it was not within them to begin with. Calling them ugly, sick and disabled will cause them to think that these are true, and will definitely lower their self-confidence. They'll believe that because they don;t have perfect skin, or wear glasses, they're seen to be lower than others around them, but that is not the case.

                People need to stand up and make a change because judging and criticizing someone based off of stereotypes already made about them is only a loss for the person making the harsh critique. This is because they may be looking an opportunity to have a good friendship with someone wise and knowledgeable, to provide them with necessities they'll be needing in their future. In addition, stand up for someone being judged.