The invisible man/woman. The person with diminishing capabilities. That’s how some of us in our late 50s, 60s, and beyond feel others regard us with every year we grow older. Maybe we occasionally struggle to remember where we left our cell phone. But people in their 40s can have identical brain fades. Of course, they are not treated similarly.

When those in power (especially the medical community) become dismissive about this change of perspective, a line from the old movie Network surfaces in my mind — the one in which an older character played by Peter Finch throws open a high-rise office window and yells: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”

Boomers now live longer than any previous generation. Some of us never retired. Others did but are more active than we’ve ever been primarily because now we have the luxury of time to get fit, travel, and socialize. There is now so much information out there on how to get and stay healthy, we need not regard doctors as gods, as our parents might have.

What we don’t like is being treated like children. Personally speaking, if something has changed with my health and I visit the doctor to find out why, I want answers. I want explanations. I don’t want a doctor blaming my symptoms on getting older. And I don’t want to be told it’s all in my head.

Ageism is a very real, overlooked barrier to good health. According to U.S. National Health and Retirement, one-fifth of people over 50 face age-based

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