The Equality Authority and the National Council on Ageing and Older People have rejected a claim that posters promoting an anti-ageism campaign may foster a negative image of older people.
The posters promote “Say No To Ageism” week which started yesterday. The campaign has been developed by the Equality Authority, the National Council on Ageing and Older People and the Health Service Executive.
But Fine Gael Dublin South TD Alan Shatter said the posters were “offensive and inappropriate” as well as “extraordinarily insensitive” and called for them to be withdrawn.
The posters depict a series of photographs of older people with labels such as “burden”, “grumpy”, “past it”, “forgotten” and “useless” printed on them.
“Imagine the entirely justified public outcry if a campaign purporting to be anti-racist used comparable posters with derogatory terms plastered across the faces of people from ethnic or religious minorities,” Mr Shatter said.
“Not only are the posters ageist, they are a very cruel and insulting image to present to older people, and in particular to any older person who may be feeling depressed or lonely.
“I am outraged that the opportunity to promote the perception of older people as valuable and worthwhile members of society has been wasted and that public funds, including the tax euros of older people, have been used in such a negative and discriminatory way.”
But in a joint statement Chief Executive Officer of the Equality Authority Niall Crowley and Chairman of the National Council on Ageing and Older People Dr Ciarán Donegan rejected Mr Shatter’s claim that the posters were offensive.
The posters were designed to “expose ageism, to highlight how unacceptable ageism is and to promote a new culture where people’s capacity and attributes are not deemed to be determined by their age”, the statement said.
“The posters ask each of us to explore how we might have internalised these stereotypes and labels of older people by raising the question – ‘What is your attitude to ageism?’.
“They thus pose a challenge which will hopefully make a significant contribution to the elimination of ageism in Ireland.”
Mr Crowley and Dr Donegan rejected the comparison with racism, adding: "Ageism and stereotyping of older people remains a socially accepted phenomenon in many instances. It is very different to racism in this regard.
"In such a context it is important to expose and draw out how ageism stereotypes and labels older people. In this way when the stereotypes and labels are exposed to public scrutiny they can be clearly seen to be unacceptable and damaging."
