Ep17 Ashton Applewhite.

It seems we’re living longer and doing better than at any other time in history…. So why are we still afraid of aging? Our guest today, Ageism activist Ashton Applewhite, says "It’s not the passage of time that makes it so hard to get older. It's ageism, a prejudice that pits us against our future selves -- and each other. Aging isn’t a problem to be solved. Or a disease to be cured. Or something icky that old people do. It’s how we move through life, and more of us are doing more of it than ever before in human history.

And that’s also why, according to a 2021 United Nations report on ageism, swift action to implement effective anti-ageism strategies is needed. It seems that every second person in the world is believed to hold ageist attitudes – leading to poorer physical and mental health and reduced quality of life for older persons, which in turn, is costing societies billions of dollars each year.

Lucky for us, Ashtons is here to help us dismantle the dread and mobilize against the last socially acceptable prejudice.

Ashton is an internationally recognized expert on ageism and,

1) the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. ……. 2) co-founder of the Old School Anti-Ageism Clearinghouse……, 3) speaks widely at venues that have included the TED main stage and the United Nations, …..and 4) is at the forefront of the emerging movement to raise awareness of ageism and to dismantle it. ……. 5) In 2022 the Decade of Healthy Aging, a UN + WHO collaboration, named Ashton one of the Healthy Aging 50: fifty leaders transforming the world to be a better place to grow older.