Ryan Backer
Ryan Backer is an age activist striving to undo ageism within an intersectional framework. They’ve been on this social justice path since 2013 and are a co-creator of OldSchool.info, a clearinghouse of anti-ageism resources. Ryan’s facilitated workshops on undoing ageism and queering age in NYC, Philadelphia, Louisville, Germany, Ireland, Canada, and online. They work part-time as a care partner, and they’ve interned at the Edie Windsor SAGE Center, the NYC Elder Abuse Center, and Brooklyn Pride Center’s ElderPRIDE. Ryan identifies as a white, non-binary, European-American “old person in training.” They have an undergraduate degree in Gerontology with a minor in Black Studies from York College, City University of New York. OldSchool.info is a clearinghouse of free and carefully vetted resources to educate people about ageism and help dismantle it. You’ll find talks, campaigns, books, reports, videos, podcasts, and other tools (workshops, handouts, curricula etc.) which are accessible to the general public. The clearinghouse is the brainchild of anti-ageism activist Ashton Applewhite of This Chair Rocks, who created it with Ryan Backer and Kyrié Carpenter. Together we work to advocate against ageism as well as organize movement-building activities and events. Our vision is to help catalyze a movement against ageism and leverage the universal nature of this form of prejudice to address the intersectional nature of all oppression—and of activism itself.