Ageism Awareness Day Roundtable
A conversation about ageism with Peter Willcocks, Val Fell OAM and moderated by Beverly Baker. All are members of OPAN's National Older Persons Reference Group. Courtesy: Older Persons Advocacy Network
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00:00 It is just so humiliating.
00:02 My experience was that I found myself unemployed
00:06 at the ripe old age of 50,
00:09 and I had to go to Centrelink to look for work,
00:13 as you had to do.
00:15 And I have never been so insulted in my life.
00:18 There was no understanding or respect of the work
00:21 that I had done or what my skill base would be.
00:25 They didn't even bother to look at my CV
00:28 and suggested that I be sent off to learn how to write a CV
00:32 and then to lower my expectations
00:34 as to what my career path might be,
00:37 because after all, you don't have much of it left.
00:40 I was horrified that at 50, which as you all know,
00:45 is some of your most productive years.
00:49 You know, you are energetic, everything's there.
00:51 Your kids are usually grown up in a way.
00:54 You're fine, you're a valuable employee at that stage
00:57 because you've got none of the distractions
00:59 that you have as a much younger person,
01:01 including, you know, partying all weekend.
01:04 So it was so insulting to be treated
01:08 as if all of my experience was worth nothing.