In an exclusive interview with Provider, Dr. Thomas casts the vision of living in a world where the ageist slur, "elderly" is no longer a part of polite conversation.  He says, "Think back in memory to the last time an older person referred to themselves as 'elderly.' People don't introduce themselves by saying, 'Hi, I'm Bob's elderly mother.' That's put onto them. That's the definition of a slur."  Dr. Bill Thomas believes that to change long term care, we need to change the larger societal attitudes toward getting old. 

In pursuit of this reality, Dr. Thomas is hitting the road for the Age of Disruption Tour, "I'm going on tour again, starting in April," [Dr. Bill Thomas] tells Provider. "I feel a responsibility to have an impact on not just long term care, but how our country views aging and how our country thinks about older people. I think that many of the issues we deal with in long term care are driven by deep, cultural misunderstandings about aging."