Ageism is that bias, those stereotypes, and the way that we think about age across the life course.

And we might make some statements that we think are pretty harmless, but really they impact us all.

A lot of people, you know, look at older Pennsylvanians and older Americans and think that they don't have a lot to offer.

We have a volunteer program here of over 500 volunteers, and they are more active and have more energy than I do on any given day.

And they're in their 70s and 80s.

People think that, you know, first of all they think that people, when they reach a certain age, retire.

That's not true.

In this day and age, there's a lot of people over the age of 60 and 65 that are still in the workforce.

You hear statements like, she can't run this program, she just finished college, she's too young.

Or we hear, he's too old, he doesn't know how to work an iPad.

So when we make those kind of blanket statements, that really does harm people and harm how we consider our contributions that we all make in society.

Think about maybe the last time you bought a birthday card and it made fun of someone's age.

Oh, you're over the hill simply because you're a certain chronological age.

Think about a time we all laughed about a joke and it was making fun of a disability that someone might have.

Maybe they're hard of hearing and it's age - related hearing loss, so we're making fun of an older person who can't hear.

We're all going to age.

We can't stop that process.

We're all going to be there at one point.

And I think when we talk about helping older Pennsylvanians, making sure that they stay in the community, stay in their homes as long as possible, that is supporting communities as a whole.

They're giving back on a daily basis.

As we age, we gain experience, we gain different life lessons.

We are living longer and healthier lives now.

Recognizing all that is why it's important that in our programs and in our policies we start to consider that.

When we talk about older Pennsylvanians and the needs of older Pennsylvanians, there's a trickle-down effect.

It's really going to be able to support the needs of everyone, whether they be bike lanes, walking paths that we're going to be looking forward to in this plan for Aging Our Way PA. Those are going to be open to everyone.

Language is really at the heart of how we shape perceptions of age.

If we think about it, from when we're two and three years old, there are jokes that we hear, there are ways that people reference older people, there are television shows that we watch that make fun of older people.

We may even need support of federal or congressional delegations, but it's really at the local level where people live, where they work, where they're interacting with their grandchildren and in their community that the changes need to be made.

Some of the next steps that if you're watching this and you're thinking, what can I do next, is you definitely want to look at the Pennsylvania Department of Aging's website for resources.

And take a look at the Aging Our Way PA, take a look at the multi - sector plan as it's been written.

It's covering much more than the Department of Aging.

This is all agencies within the Pennsylvania government.