Listen to Young People: Stop Adultism

In an adult world, adults who treat other adults disrespectfully are not tolerated. However, we treat youth disrespectfully all the time.

I was on the phone with a Direct TV agent to clear up a problem that was evident in my billing. The operator who received my call was brash and rude from the beginning. She talked over me as I explained the mishap. She disregarded my request for her to pull up my file and check the reference notes applied from my last call. Ultimately, out of frustration, I asked her what was her problem, she was the rudest person I had ever spoken to and she hung up on me! I was able to report her and get fine assistance from another operator. My needs were ultimately met.

Such are the ways of the adult world.

How often do we see a situation similar to the one I shared where it is a young person in my place? A young person seeking assistance or having a problem and an adult not listening to what their need and then invalidating what it is they are going through. I've seen a young person come to an adult who was supposed to be their case manager be turned away from receiving services. The young person had shared that they were having problems with going to a job interview because they couldn't afford the bus fare. This young person didn't have family support, was in transitional housing and-- obviously-- didn't have a job to make money-- so they weren't able to make it to the job interview that was located outside of walking distance. The case manager had access to bus tokens to give to the young person but hadn't thought to make this fact known. This case manager had known about the young person's history but didn't think to make an offer of support by providing bus tokens. Instead of being accountable to this fact, the case manager blamed the young person for being lazy.

I can give example after example of how we are adultist in our thoughts and actions. According to the Freechild Project, adultism is the oppression of all young people that happens from the day they are born simply because of their young age. It is presented in the attitudes of every adult who occupies the same space as young people, including parents, teachers, and youth workers. For example, adultism is expressed by treating the young person as weak, helpless and less intelligent than adults. For many, there is verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. Oppression of young people conditions them to accept all other oppressions that exist in the society.

We can begin to stop adultism by listening and actually hearing. Stop belittling. Speak respectfully. What are some ways you aid in ending adultism?