Whether it’s in a retail environment, a career or job-search situation, or any one of several areas in which appearances can drive a response, I am beginning to have to question whether it’s my race or my age (and gender) that’s having the biggest impact. And while, like most African-Americans, my insistence on my rights is second nature by now, I am surprised to say that it’s only lately that I have begun to heat up my response when I suspect that I am being dismissed because I am perceived as a “woman of a certain age”.