Epping Gardens, an aged care home in Melbourne, Australia, scored zero out of eight in a government quality assessment last year. The review found the management of food and medical care was inadequate, and that staff numbers had been cut, leaving residents uncared for. Residents complained of physical and psychological abuse and told the auditors they “sometimes or never” felt at home. In recent months, the facility has been overwhelmed by cases of COVID-19, while families with loved ones in residence have complained about dysfunction, understaffing, and poor quality care at the facility before and during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, these kinds of elder abuses and neglect are common and reflect negative perceptions of older people and aging. A sense of isolation and alienation are major problems for older people who have often lost friends and family and are alone. As more people live longer, they are becoming increasingly disconnected from society. In the past, generations lived together or nearby, while today, older people live separately and distantly, and often in long-term care facilities such as Epping Gardens. These places have been called homes, nursing homes, old people’s homes, or old folk’s homes, terms that are now perceived as derogatory. The preferred names for these places include adult care homes, skilled nursing facilities, residential facilities, assisted living facilities, or older adult communities.

The terminology surrounding adult care can sound cold and clinical, so euphemistic names are often used to make these places sound more appealing, and to ease the guilt and remorse of adult children who abandon the care of their parents to others. Some current examples from Florida in the United States include “Paradise Village”, “Golden Age Manor”, “Silver Lining Estates”, “Sunny Days Retirement Home”, and “Our Dream Retirement Home”.

Adult care homes are stigmatized, as are the people who live in them. Likened to inmates in prison or patients in hospital, older people in long-term care facilities live in small, impersonalized spaces. They often lose their sense of freedom, their preferences are dismissed or ignored, and they are excluded from making decisions about their own lives. They feel dehumanized and treated as less valuable members of society. Staff in these facilities often infantilize older people, who are talked down to and treated like children, despite the fact that they are adults with a lifetime of accomplishments, and they are paying clients.

Older people are thought of as being close to the end of their lives, with their time running out, but in contradiction, they have a lot of time on their hands. Many older people who are institutionalized spend this time in passive inactivity, with little communication or constructive activity. They are stereotyped as sitting around, feeling bored, watching television, playing shuffleboard, and “killing time” as they wait for death. So, the end-of-life housing experience has been likened to living in “God’s waiting room.”

Ageism is embedded in our everyday language. Ageist language reflects anxieties and beliefs about getting old and reveals that aging is viewed with disgust, contempt, and fear. As a result, older people are often viewed through this same lens. Just like racism or sexism, ageism has a detrimental impact on people. It devalues the dignity and worth of older people and leaves them feeling excluded, ignored, or rejected. Society has an obligation to be concerned about the welfare of older people, who constitute a growing proportion of our population. People are living much longer than previous generations, and as life expectancy continues to improve, it is time to rethink our attitudes and beliefs about ageing to create a more age-inclusive society. After all, ageism is the one form of intersectional prejudice that everyone will face, if we are lucky to live long enough.

For a further discussion of ageism and related topics, see Karen’s forthcoming book ‘On the Offensive: Prejudice in Language Past and Present’.