Seniority Means Senile in 2024
Advanced age and disability should be supported in the workplace, not vilified
Yet again this week, commentators are vilifying public figures for their age and mental acuity.
Last month it was Joe Biden, hounded out of the Presidential race by a horrific savaging. Now it’s Trump’s turn to feel the wrath.
In Tuesday’s Guardian, Trump’s comments prompted a response from Harris’s campaign, which appeared to interpret it as an example of age-related confusion and evidence that the former president, who is 78 and now the oldest presidential candidate in US history following Joe Biden’s withdrawal, is in mental decline.
“In a stunning senile moment, Donald Trump just suggested it was Kamala Harris who treated Mike Pence poorly,” the campaign posted on X, linking to video footage of Trump’s comments.
“Donald Trump clearly cannot remember anything. Retweet to make sure all Americans see this hypocritical and senile moment.”
I feel it’s important I speak out about this destructive feeding frenzy. The nasty, personal vitriol alarms me enormously. Eight out of 10 people with hidden and mental disabilities choose not to tell their employer or colleagues, for fear of an adverse effect on their prospects.
When you see headlines like these today, is it any wonder?
America is paying the price for the monstrous Biden lie,
It is an entirely self-inflicted wound. Had Biden been honest about his limitations at an earlier date, the path to a Democratic presidency would be far clearer.
In other words, they would have sacked him.
The President's “performances” in debate seems to matter more than his performance as Chair of Trustees of USA Inc. His entirely normal lack of a young man's acuity is a cause of mockery and derision. Yet no one questions the 91-year-old Warren Buffett's ability as chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a $900bn business which owns significant chunks of Apple Inc and Coca Cola.
Autocrats are universally reviled by history. Good government is collegiate and the person at the head of the table risks bad decision-making if she or he acts as a dictator and ignores wise counsel.
Organisations can create safe spaces for everyone to talk about their strengths and possible areas of limitation. There is no impairment which, with the right support, should prevent anyone from doing a great job. I talk to business leaders about this every week.
I've been totally blind for forty years. I need help with balance sheets. I find collating multiple sources of information time consuming. I can't find my way to the toilet in Parliament without help. I believe if you ask colleagues at Scope, the disability charity I chair, or Blue Raincoat Chrysalis which I co-founded and which has a top ten single this week with “Three Lions” whether my blindness or my age [72] has rendered me incapable of chairing discussion, making good observations or decisions, I believe they would laugh at you and not at me.
I hope President Biden will be judged on the legacy of his Government, not whether opponents and Republican media think it's hilarious to see someone act his age. He has been hounded out of office. Ask the disabled people you know and the chances are they couldn't get a job or they had a job but had to leave as the ignorant, thoughtless people around them wrongly perceived their dyslexia, dyspraxia, low vision or hearing loss as rendering them incapable and, in many cases, subject to the same repellent vitriol.