A VICTORIAN seniors advocacy group has called on the community to stamp out ageism after an elderly Horsham man received an abusive letter from a motorist.
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Horsham’s Bill O’Connor, 78, was left shaken after a motorist wrote him a vile letter for allegedly holding up traffic while he walked across the road to get his morning newspaper.
The motorist, who left the letter at Mr O’Connor’s home, wrote that Mr O’Connor “can’t even walk properly” and was a nuisance.
The Council on the Ageing Victoria chief executive Ronda Held said it was extremely disappointing to hear about the way Mr O’Connor was treated.
“Unfortunately it’s not surprising, nor is it geographically prevalent,” she said.
“The Council on the Ageing Victoria would consider this an example of ageism.”
Ms Held said ageism was an issue that everyone in the community should be responsible for stamping out.
“It is one of the causal links to more serious experiences of elder abuse,” she said.
“Ageism is discrimination or unfair treatment based on a person’s age.
“It can impact on someone’s confidence, job prospects, financial situation, health and their quality of life.
“Like racism and sexism, ageism serves a social and economic purpose of legitimising and sustaining inequalities between groups – in this case between people of different ages, including an older man simply walking across the road to get the newspaper.
“We encourage people to call out this discrimination and demand a world where all people are treated as equals.”
Ms Held said ageism was different from elder abuse, which was any act that caused harm to an older person and was carried out by someone they trust.
“The abuse might be physical, social, financial, psychological or sexual and can include mistreatment and neglect,” she said.
Ms Held said the World Health Organisation estimates up to 10 per cent of older people worldwide experience elder abuse.