Snowflakes or tough as nails?
Universities have recently found themselves in the headlines simply for asking staff to refrain from referring to older people in ageist terms.
Our Chief Executive, Carole Easton, welcomes the universities’ sensitivity to the issue and responds to those who have criticised the well-meaning inclusive language guides.
This week I was interviewed on BBC Radio about Manchester University and other academic institutions that are providing guidance to their staff on how to refer to older people and others without causing offence. This had been gathering a few newspaper headlines over recent days.
Staff are being advised to actively avoid ageist terms such as 'elderly', 'OAPs', 'pensioners' or 'youngsters', instead using terms that are objective such as 'mature individuals', 'older people' or simply 'learners'. The university’s inclusive language guide also recommends staff to only refer to age if it is relevant, for example with initiatives that are only available for a particular age group.
From my point of view this seems eminently reasonable and uncontroversial. However, there are those that disagree. Some newspaper reports quoted an anonymous spokesman for the Free Speech Union as saying:
'It's one thing for universities to protect snowflakes from hearing certain words - they might be "triggered" and feel 'unsafe'.
'But it's deeply patronising to offer the same protections to old people. In my experience, most OAPs are tough as nails and the last thing they're worried about is hurt feelings.'
While we know that organisations such as these are designed to stir and stoke outrage, I found their words to be dismissive of people’s experiences. They make sweeping general assumptions about older people with very little basis or evidence. The spokesman also misses the vital point that the alternatives to ageist terms suggested by the universities are the terms that older people themselves wish to be referred by.
It is not patronising to offer balanced and sensible protections to older people, or any other group of people.
There is research that clearly demonstrates that as many as one in three people experience ageism. Ageism affects people of all ages, but its damaging impact is often felt most strongly as people age, whether through discrimination in the workplace or being denied access to potentially life-saving healthcare.
I respect that universities and colleges are making efforts to challenge the overwhelmingly negative stereotypes that are held about older people. Language does make a difference. It reinforces ideas about ageing and influences behaviour both towards older people and by older people themselves who can end up viewing themselves in line with the prevailing stereotypes and limit their own behaviour accordingly. “I am old and not worthy of an operation; I am old and not worthy of a job”.
It is not patronising to offer balanced and sensible protections to older people, or any other group of people. There is however much that is said about older people that is patronising and may seem benign but has the effect of dismissing them as irrelevant or doddery and not having anything to contribute to society.
In my view it is also deeply misguided and even offensive to assume that most older people are tough as nails. This denies the huge diversity amongst the millions of older people in this country.
Older people do have feelings and they can be hurt. This does not mean they should be described as snowflakes any more than they should be described as one hardy, homogenous group of stoics. To dismiss those feelings out of hand does older people a great injustice and serves to silence and marginalise them even further.