A big issue for programs serving older adults what to call the 'new' seniors, the Baby Boomers.
Ina Jaffe, an NPR journalist, keynoted the Osher Institute conference for programs providing classes for older adults and recommended seniors, followed by a few other senioristic terms. She is wrong.
My brilliant co-author Julie Coates is one of the foremost demographic experts in the country, and judging by the others, she must be THE foremost expert. Cause the others all got it wrong.
Julie says to call them - - me - - Boomers. That's what we are. That's the term we use, we know refers to us. We are not seniors. We will probably never be seniors. We don't answer to the term, we don't call each other seniors, we don't listen to anything about seniors.
For our field of lifelong learning programming, Coates' recommendation is probably one of the biggest marketing and message recommendations of this decade. It affects the class programming to millions of people. Stay tuned. Julie is never wrong.
Photo: Julie in 1980.