I cringed recently while driving to the clinic where I specialize in geriatric medicine when I heard a young radio announcer refer to old people as “wiggy,” a pejorative for wacky.
As a doctor who has extensively researched aging and age-related diseases[1] for over 30 years, this to me is the sound of ageism unleashed.
The quip immediately underscored how easily society regards age as the sole measure of how well a...