Ashton Applewhite: don’t blame yourself if you can’t open that jar

Who’s fault is it when an older person struggles to open a jar? Ashton Applewhite says older people blame themselves.

US anti-ageism author and activist Ashton Applewhite. Picture: Adrian Buckmaster.

Who’s fault is it when an older person struggles to open a jam jar? US ageing activist Ashton Applewhite says older people will too easily blame themselves when increasing physical frailty is inevitable and should be factored in to product design.

“Older people will say ‘I can’t get myself out of this car’, or ‘I can’t open this jam jar’. They blame their age, but they shouldn’t. It’s ageism,” she says.

“The car should be designed so older people can get in and out with less difficulty. The jam jar should be easier to open for older people.”

Ms Applewhite, author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, will undertake a national speaking tour next month as a guest of EveryAGE Counts, an Australian advocacy campaign driving awareness of discrimination against older people. She says ageism is “the last universal prejudice” permeating everything from personal appearance to the built environment. And she urges people to reject industries that foster the idea that we all want to stay young. The beauty and pharmaceutical industries are in her crosshairs.

“I look at my country, the US, and see the most ageist place in the world. Why? Because it’s the epicentre of pop culture, and of capitalism,” she says.

“The attitude is no one makes money from satisfaction, only dissatisfaction. What would happen to the diet industry, or gyms, if people looked in the mirror and went, ‘You know, I look pretty good’?”

Ms Applewhite says the more people know about the process of ageing, the less fearful they become of it. “The more realistic we are, it can actually protect us against physical and cognitive decline,” she says.

“A recent big Yale study says that having an informed realistic attitude to ageing can protect against Alzheimer’s disease, even for those predisposed to that disease.

“I am not a Pollyanna on this. There are many legitimate fears we have about getting older. More visits to the dentist, your body falling apart, losing your friends, running out of money and it’s not that these aren’t legitimate fears. It’s just that those fears are out of proportion to the reality and the fear itself is bad for us.

“We need to think imaginatively about how institutions will support us across our lifespans.”

Ms Applewhite’s speaking tour begins in Hobart on Saturday.