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Formal email on ageism as ethical advisor
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Short 'email' on your observations of ageism and suggestions to set up some sort of training to address the topic of ageism in a residential centre
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Assignment 3 – D.E. Boer – 1009494Dear Mr Bing,
Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed some inappropriate behaviour from the nurses towards
our clients. It is mostly focused on the ‘elder’ clients we have living in our residential centre.
The main point is that the nurses treat our clients as if there are not autonomous individuals,
and this goes directly against the principles I stand for. I would dare to say that you could
even call it ageism. That is ‘’the systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against older
people, analogous to racism and sexism’’ (Cole, 1992, p. 227). Before you get startled, let me
elaborate on one of my observations.
It was Monday morning, and I was just walking my routes through the residential centre and
occasionally speaking to clients and nurses alike when I noticed the dreary look on Mr Geller
his face, sitting in his wheelchair, while Miss Green was ‘talking’ to her client (Mr Geller).
Mr Geller needed to change his medications because of some complications. I don’t know the
specifics. However, what I did notice was that Miss Green was not talking directly to Mr
Geller himself, although he is more that capable of understanding his change of medication.
Instead, I saw Miss Green talking to his daughter, Mrs Buffay, while standing right next to
Mr Geller. She explained to his daughter why it changed, as if though Mr Geller himself
would not comprehend it at all. I’m not sure how he felt, because I have not spoken about the
incident with him yet, but he looked quite unfortunate. Even when Mrs Buffay asked if Miss
Green could speak to her father, Miss Green continued to speaking to her, while waving with
her hand as if the remark did not matter at all! It looked like Miss Green associated the grey
hairs and the wheelchair from Mr Geller with incomprehension, maybe even irresponsibility
or unaccountable. But it is extremely important to understand that ‘’disability does not equal
old age and that old age does not equal disability’’ (Marshall, 2014, p. 22). And the effect of
Miss Green on Mr Geller might have an great impact on his identity and feelings of self-
worth, as ‘’the formation of identity is fundamentally relational’’ (Marshall, 2014, p. 33).
This simple act which seemed innocent was actually quite dehumanising. Every individual
should not be placed inside a category, but looked at as it is actually an individual. You need
to see each person as an specific, vulnerable, unique, and irreplaceable person (Derkx, 2015).
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