BY LINDA HENRY
“What’s age got to do with it, got to do with it, got to do with it?”
Thinking about the overarching theme of this issue, I found myself singing Tina Turner’s biggest-selling single, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”—only substituting the words age for love.
Well then, what does age have to do with it? Perhaps the better question is when doesn’t age matter? It defines when we go to school, get a job, drive a car, enter the military, be viewed as an adult, marry, or retire. And now, age has taken center stage as a qualifier in the upcoming election. Should age be on the ballot? Is age the sole denominator of one’s fitness to function in high-level endeavors?
Bonnie Wong, the director of the neuropsychology program at Massachusetts General Hospitalist’s frontotemporal disorders unit, studies “super agers.” She believes that assessing someone’s mental or physical capabilities from brief observations of speech, memory, or motor function is not reliable. “When it comes to cognitive ability, things are much more complex,” says Wong.
Our fixation on age as a qualifier of ability is becoming more important considering that the current median age in the U.S. Senate is 65 and nearly 58 in the House. As the issue of age ramps up given the age of the two leading presidential candidates, noted writer and activist Aston Applewhite considers calling either of them old is not ageism. “They are old,” she states. However, she notes, calling someone too old for a job is ageist. “Plenty of younger people aren’t up to a given task. Plenty of olders are.” Instead, she suggests the conversation should center on capacity.
When we set work limits based solely on age, we risk premature loss of talent and opportunities for individuals and society, believes geriatrician and award-winning writer Louise Aronson, MFA, MD, thus exacerbating the dilemma of demanding older workers retire while lamenting the economic burden of unemployed elders.
Aronson suggests developing evidence-based guidelines that can be used to create employment standards across industries using data and expertise from leaders in economics, geriatric medicine, gerontology, and elsewhere to optimize work in older ages despite the considerable diversity in health and function across the decades of elderhood. She cautions that voting should be based on more than age.
Stuart Jay Olshansky, a professor of health at the University of Illinois Chicago who analyzes the longevity of presidents, argues that since not everyone ages at the same rate, it is important to distinguish between chronological age and biological age that considers genetics and lifestyle choices.
So, should age be on the ballot? The reality is for some, it will be a key factor. However, it does not have to be the predominant factor. Whether we agree or not, we choose what factors will influence our vote. Consider evaluating a candidate, presidential, or other down-ballot candidate by their truthfulness, consideration of others, position on crime, environment, or other issues. While age affects many things, it is not the sole indicator of competency. Elections matter and as an educated voter, our vote counts.
Linda Henry writes regularly on topics related to aging, health care, and communication and is the co-author of several books, including Transformational Eldercare from the Inside Out: Strengths-Based Strategies for Caring. She conducts workshops nationally on aging and creating caring work environments. Her volunteer emphasis is age-friendly communities.