p o s i t i v e a g e i n g a g e p r o u d : e x p l o r ... · associations with ageing and came...

PREPARED BYJoseph WIlliamsAdam Hames

A G E P R O U D : E X P L O R I N GP O S I T I V E A G E I N G

Liz Jones (Macc)December 2019

03 | Age Proud Report 2019

CONTENTS

Executive Summary4

8 Section I: Introduction

Section II: About the event10

Section III: The workshopsand findings

11

Section IV: Recommendations22

The Greater Manchester Older People’sNetwork (GMOPN) aims to make sure thatolder people have an influence in keydecision-making and that their voices arechampioned in the areas that most affecttheir lives. Recent research suggests thata quarter of people over 50 have feltdiscriminated against in the course oftheir everyday lives. In this report, webring together the thoughts and ideas ofparticipants attending our Age ProudEvent on 2 October 2019, held as part ofthe national #AgeProud campaign. In a pledge to support the campaign,Mayor of Greater Manchester AndyBurnham emphasised the need for, “amodern and positive narrative on ageingthat emphasises the contribution olderpeople make”. He stated, “Ageism affectsus all - now is the time to change the waywe think and talk about ageing”.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


Our report finds that the current narrativeson ageing are overwhelmingly negative.Ageing is perceived as a negative in itselfand this is reflected in both language andimagery. Stereotypes and assumptionsabout older generations include the ideaof a privileged 'golden generation’, the‘little old man/woman', characterised byweakness and a lack of capacity, and asense of older people as 'past it', theirattitudes and insights out of touch andirrelevant. Although these strands areoften mutually contradictory, togetherthey combine to characterise older peopleoverwhelmingly in terms of societalburden. The negative impact of this on olderpeople is wide-ranging. Against abackdrop of this negative narrative,stereotyping and lack of value, it isdifficult to avoid internalised ageism andto retain a sense of self-esteem. This inturn can feed into experiences ofloneliness and social isolation. The morepervasive these narratives, the harder it isfor older people to experience the morepositive aspects of ageing and retain asense of identity. Instead, individuals canperceive themselves becoming someonewith a sense of ‘older’ negativecharacteristics. Positive aspects of ageing werenevertheless found to be diverse andvaried. These offer more than enoughperspectives to provide a positivealternative narrative that emphasisesolder people’s assets and contributions. 05 | Age Proud Report 2019

Our report emphasises the freedompotentially offered by ageing; anopportunity to focuson interests, try new things and to defineyourself in terms of your intrinsicvalues. It also highlights an increasedsense of community and the value of asense of giving back, making acontribution and having an impact. It alsosuggests that there is potentially a changein perspective accompanying ageingthat can result in greater confidence and amore philosophical approach. Our report finds that older people valueopportunities to share their knowledgeand experience as well as to continue tohave an impact and express their views. Itis up to organisations and agencies thatwork with older people to ensure that theyengage with a more positive narrativearound older people and provideopportunities that value and empower,rather than reduce older people to a set ofassumptions that do not acknowledgetheir individual assets and diversity.

Findings


Recommendations

CREATE A STRENGTHS-BASED NARRATIVE1 Negative ideas about ageing are ingrained in our society and medianarratives often reinforce these attitudes. A commitment is neededacross organisations that work with older people to create astrengths-based narrative, that represents older people in apositive and realistic way and acknowledges their contributions.This needs to include a stock of positive words and phrases, thatcan be reinforced through repetition.

FOCUS ON WORDS AND IMAGERY

2

COMMIT TO PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIESFOR OLDER PEOPLE TO CONTRIBUTE3

CREATE A REALISTIC AND INCLUSIVENARRATIVE 4

We need to focus equally on words and images and ensure thatvisual representations of older people are positive and realistic.The GMOPN will hold an Age Proud photography competition totake action on this recommendation.

The narrative of burden is particularly damaging to older people– we need to focus on the opportunities afforded by our ageingpopulation and to commit to ensuring that older people have theopportunity to contribute their skills, experience and knowledge.

We need to ensure that our narrative on ageing is realistic andinclusive and includes challenges and difficulties connected to theageing process and an ageing society. However, we need to avoidgeneralisations about ageing and avoid presenting older people aspassive victims. We need to present challenges within the contextof the overall opportunities afforded by an ageing society.

07| Age Proud Report 2019

Recommendations

ACKNOWLEDGE AND CELEBRATE DIVERSITY 5 A new narrative needs to recognise diversity and celebrate a

population with a huge array of interests and differentcontributions to make. It needs to be acknowledged that everyolder person’s situation is different and making generalisationsabout the positive aspects of ageing is potentially as damaging asfocusing on more negative experiences.

CREATE AN AGE PROUD MOVEMENT6

FOCUS ON REAL PEOPLE AND RELATABLESITUATIONS7

CHALLENGE AGEISM IN A POSITIVE WAYTHAT AVOIDS DIVISIONS8

Older people need to lead in developing an Age Proud Movementthat encourages others to see older age as a time of opportunity,where they can be valued for their unique and diverse perspectivesand develop their skills and abilities.

The Age Proud Movement should focus on storytelling, anddeveloping role models. It should depict real people in relatablesituations rather than exceptional examples. We need to create anarrative that allows people to link being older with the morepositive aspects of their identity, as opposed to achieving ‘in spiteof their age’.

Ageism should be challenged in a context where ageing is seen aspart of the life-course and as applying to all, not a group of‘other’ older people, separate from the rest of the population.Talking about ageing in the context of different generations islikely to cause further divisions. Although ageism needs to bechallenged, this should be in a positive way that presents abalanced alternative perspective rather than reinforces thenegative view.


The Greater Manchester Older People’sNetwork (GMOPN) has nearly 400members from across Greater Manchester.It aims to make sure that older peoplehave a say in the decision-making thataffects them and that their voices arechampioned in as many relevant areas aspossible. On 2 October 2019 the GMOPN held ourAge Proud Event in Manchester. Theevent was held the day after InternationalDay of the Older Person, which this yearhad a focus on challenging ageism. Aspart of a campaign led by the Centre forAgeing Better, mayors and council leadersacross the country, including GreaterManchester Mayor Andy Burnham, andCouncillor Brenda Warrington (Leader ofTameside Council) pledged to work totackle ageism through an open letter.

They called on the population to, “re-thinkour own prejudices, think more carefullyabout the impact our words can have onothers, and be part of a movement to endageism once and for all”. Mayor Andy Burnham commented, “As theUK’s first age-friendly city-region, GreaterManchester is committed to becoming oneof the best places in the world to growold. We know this includes having amodern and positive narrative on ageingthat emphasises the contribution olderpeople make. Ageism affects us all - nowis the time to change the way we thinkand talk about ageing.” Recent research suggests that a quarter ofpeople over 50 have felt discriminatedagainst in the course of their everyday life.

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION


One of the network’s commitments, fromour Campaigning and DevelopmentRecommendations, was to, “prioritisechallenging negative portrayals and theuse of ageist language or stereotypedimages” (February 2019). Our Age ProudEvent was planned by our Action Groupand an event planning group comprisingour wider membership, to take action onthis commitment, as part of the national#AgeProud Campaign. At the event, a workshop was heldinvolving approximately 60 participants,with the aim of gathering insight fromolder people about how ageing iscurrently portrayed in the media and howolder people are thought of in society.

Participants discussed contemporarynarratives and assumptions and how thesecan affect people as individuals and aspart of a group within society. Participants also discussed positiveassociations with ageing and came upwith ideas and insights that couldchallenge some of the more negativestereotypes and help create a morerepresentative approach. Through thefindings of the workshop, the GMOPNhopes to be able to contribute to a morebalanced, realistic and positive view ofageing that can be promoted acrossGreater Manchester.

SECTION II: ABOUT THE EVENTThe Greater Manchester Older People’s Network’s Age Proud Event was developed inconsultation with network members through an event planning group, which metregularly before the event to determine the themes, scope and shape of the event. Onthe day itself we heard from various groups, organisations and individuals about theircommitment to challenging negative ideas of ageing and celebrating the positivecontributions of older people. The speakers and links to their presentations are listedbelow:


Elizabeth Lynskey (GMOPN Action Group member)

Liz Jones (GMOPN, Macc)

Joyce Williams (Age Proud Campaigner)

Paul McGarry (Greater Manchester Combined Authority)

Mike Dodd (Talking about my Generation)

Performance by David Morris (World Champion Whistler)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn_QM8OTgu0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGzRq3SmxiE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UFVQjDxA3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rSmmRTpUvI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnuTFxRi9CA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrZ1uKyO2HU

https://grandmawilliams.com/


SECTION III: THE WORKSHOP AND FINDINGSOur Age Proud workshop was designed to allow participants to explore currentnarratives around ageing and to develop an approach to challenging the negativeassumptions and stereotypes around ageing. The workshop was facilitated by LizJones (GMOPN) and Joyce Williams (Age Proud Campaigner).

Part One – The negative aspects: A drainand a burden or a little old irrelevance

Participants were first asked to considerthe more negative aspects of the currentnarratives about older people and ageing. They were asked to identify words,phrases, concepts or ideas that portrayolder people in a negative or inaccurateway and to examine the stereotypes aboutolder people as a group and the mythsabout ageing. They were then asked toconsider how these narratives affectedthem. Discussion was wide ranging butsome clear themes emerged, as well asvarious strands within existing narrativesthat contribute to the current negativepicture.

The idea of services, groups and activitiesfor ‘older people’ was discussed. In somecases ‘older people’ were groupedtogether as a stereotype, with incorrectassumptions about the kinds of things thatwould interest them such as bingo,knitting, luncheon clubs. This one size fitsall model was unlikely to be inspiring toolder people and helped to reinforce theidea that as an older person you couldlose the identity of your previous life andbecome someone with a set of ‘oldercharacteristics’. It was agreed that advertisers reinforcedthese stereotypes and participants notedthat adverts on television featuring andaimed at older people were frequentlyfocused on making a will, life plans andfuneral plans and reinforced negativeassociations and a sense that older peoplewere a group with very narrow and limitedinterests. It was felt that older people didnot tend to feature much in marketing for products and services that were aimed atthe general population.


Participants in the workshop discussed thedifficulties in the phrase 'older people'and the idea of talking about a populationwithin society that is so vast and so varied. If we use the term to potentially apply toanyone over the age of 50, then it canoften become difficult to say anything ofvalue across such a wide group ofpotentially three generations. Participantsnoted that older generations were oftengrouped together using terms such as ‘theelderly’ and ‘old people’. These termswere often used to make stereotypical andnegative assertions and had thereforecome to take on negative associations.Many participants expressed that althoughthey acknowledged being older, they didnot particularly identify with being an‘older person’.

What do we mean by 'older people'?

Ageing is perceived as a negative initself

Participants noted that there was ageneral negativity toward ageing. Theypointed to the terms, "old man" and, "oldwoman", that were often used as insults inthemselves.

They also noted the word “old” used aspart of various insulting terms such as “oldfogey”, “old codger” “old biddy” and “oldbag” suggesting a negativity towardsageing that was deep in our socialconsciousness. Many of these termscharacterised older people as miserableand as prone to moaning and complaining– they also had the potential to allowpeople to dismiss legitimate concerns asbeing just a result of an assumed negativeattitude associated with ageing. The word “young”, on the other hand,tended to have much more positiveconnotations, and was not felt to beattached to insulting phrases in the sameway. Participants noted phrases like,“young at heart” and how people wouldattempt to make compliments like, “youlook young for your age” and, “you don’tsound that old”, showing how youth isvalued over maturity in our society. They also discussed the jokes associatedwith ageing such as birthday cards withcomic phrases such as “You’re how old?!”,reinforcing negative messages aboutageing as something to be mocked andderided.


Participants noted that it was not justwords and narratives that reinforcednegative views of ageing. Negativeimagery was also abundant in mediarepresentations of ageing, ranging fromstereotyped images of wrinkly hands topictures of older people wrapped up inblankets, looking lonely and needy. Theseimages were often used to accompanyarticles that were totally unrelated to theimages used. The road sign, “Frailpedestrians”, was also cited as an exampleof negative imagery of older people.

How the narrative extends to imagery

"Hey Boomer!"

It was noted that stereotypes around olderpeople were often about assumedattitudes. Participants felt that it waspresumed that older people’s views wouldbe, “out of touch”, “irrelevant” and lackingimagination and how this could be used asjustification for dismissing their ideas. Thephrases, “baby boomer” and “boomer” hadrecently taken on a lot of negativeassociations. It is common for the phrase,“Hey Boomer!” to be used, particularly onsocial media, to dismiss a person’sopinions without consideration, justbecause they come from a differentgeneration. This was seen as symptomaticof a viewpoint that older people’s opinionsdid not matter and should be ignored.Participants discussed the problems ofdividing people by generations and howthis could be done cynically by the mediaand politicians to pit one generationagainst another, rather than workingtogether through the difficulties ofausterity that were experienced by allgenerations.

Discussions around Brexit extended thistheme where elements of the media haveblamed older people for Brexit, andassumed that the ‘older generation’ wasone voice.


and assumptions being made about olderpeople not being healthy or fit, and beingslower both in physical and mental terms. Participants recognised the reality of someaspects of this narrative for certain olderpeople, particularly in the latter years oflife. However, it was felt that a generalstereotype had developed of an ‘olderperson’ that emphasised these elements ofweakness and lack of abilities. This couldresult in assumptions around older peoplebeing less capable of making decisionsand easily confused and their being talkeddown to and patronised. This stereotypesometimes negatively affected specificinteractions for individual older peoplebut was also projected on to the olderpopulation at large. Campaigning by some charities has alsorelied on characterising older people asweak and needy in order to elicitsympathy and donations which has furtherfed into this stereotype. Participants also noted that decision-making in health scenarios was oftenbased upon age – some health checksfinished at a specified age, and doctorscould be less inclined to provide certaintreatments for older people. It was alsofelt that the focus seemed to move from aprevention-based model for youngerpeople to a more reactive one for olderpeople. It was felt that there was asocietal expectation that older peoplewould not be healthy or fit and thattherefore it was easy to move from theseassumptions to the idea that older peopleare a ‘burden’ in our society. This leftsome with the impression that some olderpeople were deemed, “not worth fixing”or, “ready for the scrapheap”.

The golden generation

Participants also talked about one strandof the current narrative that portrayed thecurrent population of older people as, 'thegolden generation'. Inherent in thisconcept is the idea that older people donot have to struggle or negotiate acomparable set of challenges to thosefaced by younger people. There is alsothe implication that life was much easierfor this generation throughout the lifecourse. Participants discussed how thisnarrative suggested entitlement andprivilege which is by no means the casefor most of the older population. In fact,there are huge socioeconomic inequalitiesin wellbeing and health outcomes in laterlife, just as there are for all ages. Thecontinuation of this myth can allow theolder generation to be scapegoated, witha feeling that there are too many benefitsfor older people which should instead beafforded to the younger generation, suchas the winter fuel allowance, free TVlicence and free bus travel, which manyolder people in fact rely on.

The 'little old man/woman'

Much of the discussion centred aroundgeneralised ideas about failing health anddiminished capacity. These includeddiscussions around hearing impairments,incontinence, dementia or bad memory

The words ‘frail’ and ‘frailty’ also provokeda lot of discussion. Participantsemphasised how this term impliedweakness both of mind and body andsome found the use of it as a medical terminsulting. Others noted that this wasoften used out of the context of specificclinical frailty and that it contributed to agenerally negative narrative about olderpeople that emphasised their weaknessand lack of capacity.


contributed to the narrative of blame andburden. Participants noted that the ideathat older people can’t or won’t usetechnology is a generalisation. On theother hand, there is still a real need toprovide information in non-digital formsfor some people, although this is notalways related to age. The responsibilityto meet this need is too often shifted ontoindividuals who are then blamed for notadapting to a generic digital approach. In the area of work, participants discussedthat there was an assumption that olderpeople are not in paid work or seekingwork and that there was therefore a biastowards younger people. In relation to sex, participants discussedhow there was a taboo around olderpeople having sex and that the currentnarratives in society did not acknowledgesex as an important element in the lives ofolder people just as it is for youngergenerations.

Participants discussed how the emphasison older people’s weakness and lack ofcapacity fed into one current narrativewhere older people are seen as a socialburden, a drain on society and resources.The term “bed-blockers”, which has beenapplied to older people remaining inhospital beds for long periods, wasdiscussed as an example of how olderpeople as individuals or as a group can beblamed for systemic problems. Someparticipants felt that a strong strand of thecurrent narrative on ageing was to seeolder people as a problem, botheconomically and socially. They felt thatthey were seen as “costing the taxpayerstoo much” and taking up housing thatshould be for younger people. Participantsperceived that there was a sense that theywere ‘selfish’ by wanting to remain in theirown homes and not making way for theyounger generation.

A "drain on society"

Other stereotypes and generalisations

Technology was another area where it wasfelt that many incorrect assumptionsabout older people contributed to agenerally negative attitude and

Participants reported various reactions tonegative stereotypes and narratives. Theyranged from frustration, anger andresentment, to hurt, sadness anddejection. It was also suggested that thisnegative stereotyping of older peoplecould result in older people retaininginternalised ageism as they grew olderand therefore being less able toexperience the more positive aspects oflife. Participants also reported feelingmisrepresented and misunderstood.

The potential impact of the negativenarratives

Some people questioned how they werevalued in society and felt that in manycases they were in a no-win situation. Forexample, when considering retirement,people felt that they would potentially bejudged negatively either because theycontinued working (in a job that could befor a younger person) or because theyretired (thereby ceasing their contributionand becoming a burden to society).Participants also mentioned howloneliness and social isolation werepotentially the result of how they thoughtthey were perceived in society. Theysuggested that negative narratives aroundageing might also contribute to specificmental health difficulties, such asdepression and even suicidal thoughts. Many participants expressed that they didnot feel valued as older people and thatsociety did not recognise theircontributions. It could potentially provedifficult to retain a sense of self-esteem.Some participants also explained that theycould feel very defensive. When theirexpectation was that they would not betaken seriously or would be treated asinferior, due to their age, it could makethem more likely to perceive ageistattitudes and to try to assert themselvesmore. There is the potential for this toreinforce stereotypes, where anxietyaround not being taken seriously ismisinterpreted as a negative personalcharacteristic associated with older age.


In the second part of the workshop,participants were asked to focus on thepositive aspects of ageing. They wereasked to consider what aspects of lifeimproved with maturity and how the olderpopulation contributed to society at large. They were asked to talk about a morerealistic idea of ageing that encompassedthese more positive aspects. Discussionswere extremely varied but some specificthemes emerged that might help usdevelop strands in a new more balancedand positive narrative.

Part Two - Finding the Balance


It's just a number

Many participants emphasised the ideathat growing older isn’t a feeling and thatin yourself you are still the same personthat you were. For this reason it was feltthat the positive aspects of ageing wereoften connected with the ways in whicholder age allowed a person to expresselements of their personality and interestsand develop their individual identity.

Don't forget our diversity

The variety of different aspects anddifferent views expressed by workshopparticipants emphasises the diversity ofour older population. It is important thatwe celebrate a population with a hugearray of interests and differentcontributions to make.

It also needs to be acknowledged thatevery older person’s situation is differentand that socioeconomic factors were oftenmore influential than age in contributingto an individual’s ability to experience lifein a positive way. Participantsacknowledged that makinggeneralisations about the positive aspectsof ageing were potentially as damaging asfocusing on more negative experiences.We need to create a narrative thatacknowledges individuals’ experiences,both positive and negative and creates amore realistic picture of ageing.

Freedom

Freedom was a strong theme indiscussions. Some people reported havingmore leisure time and “me time”, that theywere able to focus on interests that theyhad not had time for previously. Thisincluded more time for hobbies or travel,

or to focus on particular interests orcauses. Some people emphasised thefreedom of retirement and not beingdefined by their work anymore – thisafforded them more opportunity to definethemselves in terms of their intrinsicvalues. For some it also meant areduction in stress. For some people, their financial situationhad also improved as they grew older.Alhough it is acknowledged that this is byno means the case for all older people, forsome, financial security, as well as morefree time, afforded the opportunity toenjoy experiences that they could not inthe earlier part of their life. This includeda focus on travel and new experiences.

tell myself off for having negativethoughts and move on”. Participants alsosuggested that they were less worriedabout what others thought of them andless inclined to feel guilty about pastactions, having developed a morephilosophical attitude to life and anacknowledgement that there were lots ofthings beyond their control. For somepeople this meant that they were morelikely to be outspoken and to speak theirmind, for others it meant that they hadbecome less reactive and more peaceful.Participants also reported that they hadchanged the way they viewed the worldand how they thought about change.


Seize the day

Participants also discussed how it wasimportant to emphasise that older agewas a time for having fun. For somepeople, it was an opportunity to getinvolved in new things that they hadnever done before. This might be takingup new activities and for some it gavethem a ‘seize the day’ mentality thatmeant they were more likely to try newthings, whether it was a sponsoredfirewalk or armchair yoga.

Greater confidence

Many participants discussed how they hadbecome more confident as they grewolder. They suggested that they weremore understanding and appreciative ofsmaller pleasures. Some felt moreconfident in their approach and othersreported being more resilient and betterable to cope with difficulties: "I'm able to

Relationships Family was a key theme and thegrandparent role was discussed inparticular. Participants expressed their joyin connecting with grandchildren andsome relished the opportunity tocontribute to childcare. Participantsdiscussed relationships in a wider senseand suggested that in older agerelationships could potentially developand grow. These included friendships thathad lasted for a long time and weretherefore extremely solid and dependable,as well as new friendships, whereparticipants suggested that with a greatersense of self-acceptance there was apotential for more honest andstraightforward relationships. Intimaterelationships were also discussed, wheresome participants suggested that theywere now more comfortable withthemselves and were therefore able tohave better connections, greater intimacyand felt able to express themselvessexually.

Other participants emphasised how theirsense of community and connection totheir home and neighbourhood hadincreased with age. They discussed thevalue of getting out and about in thecommunity and the positives of having thetime to connect and meet with others. Forsome, this was particularly important inretirement when the social networkssurrounding work were no longeravailable for social connection. Someparticipants emphasised the importance ofvolunteering and giving back to theircommunity and felt that this wassomething that they were more able to doin older age. They also noted theimportance of groups to go to and theparticular value of intergenerationalprojects.


Opportunities to connect with youngerpeople were considered to be particularlyimportant and participants expressed thedesire to support and mentor youngerpeople to feel better about themselves bysharing the perspectives afforded by olderage. Some participants expressed that in someways the situation for older people hadimproved in society and that they felt thatin some areas they were able to contributemore and were valued more for theirperspectives and experience. Participants expressed the value of beingpart of the GM Older People’s Networkand the importance of taking part inresearch and campaigning and generallyhaving opportunities to have an impact,express their views and advocate forothers. A sense of empowerment wasclosely connected with a positive view ofageing for many participants.

Strong sense of community

Passing on knowledge andexperience

Participants also discussed the value ofincreased experience. They talked of theskills and knowledge that they hadamassed in their lives and emphasisedthat they were still learning and keen tolearn more. One of the positives of ageing was theopportunity to share knowledge andexperience and participants emphasisedthe importance of opportunities to pass onthat knowledge and make a contribution.This might be through sharing stories,passing on tradition and history, orsharing skills such as cooking or music.


As part of this section of the workshop, participants were asked tocome up with words that expressed the positive aspects of ageing.

#AgeProud


Part Three - Moving to an AlternativeNarrative

The third part of the workshop took theform of a group discussion about how wemight go about challenging the negativeconcept of ageing and creating a newnarrative, at once realistic and positivelyfocused. Participants summarised the key pointsfrom the previous discussion and tried toidentify ways in which they couldchallenge the current negative picture ofolder age. Participants discussed the different formsthat ageism could take, from explicitdiscrimination and nasty comments tounthinking ageism that was often meantpositively but actually reflected the kindsof assumptions about age discussedearlier. Comments like, “you look good foryour age”, reinforced negative ideas aboutageing, even when meant as acompliment. Participants agreed that althoughdiscussions about ageing were necessary,judging people based on their age was aspotentially damaging as any other kind ofprejudice. Participants discussed whereageism came from and looked at twoparticular strands in the media whichreinforced negative ideas about ageism.Firstly, they discussed the cosmetic andfashion industry, which was felt to tradeon the idea of people trying to stay asyoung as possible. They agreed that this

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“At my age, I can say anything.”

“No-one ever told me it would feel thisgood”

“One of the best things is …”

“You will be old one day – look forwardto it!”

instilled a fear of ageing and encouragedthe idea that the older you were, the lessvisible and relevant you became insociety. Secondly, participants discussedhow an increasingly ageing populationhas been linked to a narrative around costand burden, which has, in turn, beendirected at older people themselves. Participants agreed that it was up to olderpeople themselves as well asorganisations that represented them to tryto challenge this narrative. They neededto create a positive vocabulary and set ofphrases that could be used in conversationand written communications to provide analternative. As well as referring to thewords that they came up with in theearlier part of the workshop, participantsalso came up with some positive phrasesthat they could use in conversation tochallenge some of the negativeassumptions about ageing. Someexamples were:

On the basis of the themes identified in Section III of this report, the GreaterManchester Older People's Network makes the following recommendations: • Negative ideas about ageing are ingrained in our society and medianarratives often reinforce these attitudes. A commitment is needed acrossorganisations that work with older people to create a strengths-basednarrative, that represents older people in a positive and realistic way andacknowledges their contributions. This needs to include a stock of positivewords and phrases, that can be reinforced through repetition. • We need to focus equally on words and images and ensure that visualrepresentations of older people are positive and realistic. The GMOPN willhold an Age Proud photography competition to take action on thisrecommendation. • The narrative of burden is particularly damaging to older people – weneed to focus on the opportunities afforded by our ageing population and tocommit to ensuring that older people have the opportunity to contributetheir skills, experience and knowledge. • We need to ensure that our narrative on ageing is realistic and inclusiveand includes challenges and difficulties connected to the ageing processand an ageing society. However, we need to avoid generalisations aboutageing and avoid presenting older people as passive victims. We need topresent challenges within the context of the overall opportunities affordedby an ageing society. 22 | Age Proud Report 2019

Section IV: Creating an Age ProudNarrative - Recommendations for talking

about ageing


A new narrative needs to recognise diversity and celebrate a populationwith a huge array of interests and different contribution to make. Itneeds to be acknowledged that every older person’s situation is differentand making generalisations about the positive aspects of ageing ispotentially as damaging as focusing on more negative experiences.

Older people need to lead in developing an Age Proud Movement thatencourages others to see older age as a time of opportunity, where theycan be valued for their unique and diverse perspectives and develop theirskills and abilities.

The Age Proud Movement should focus on storytelling, and developingrole models. It should depict real people in relatable situations ratherthan exceptional examples. We need to create a narrative that allowspeople to link being older with the more positive aspects of theiridentity, as opposed to achieving ‘in spite of their age’.

Ageism should be challenged in a context where ageing is seen as part ofthe life-course and as applying to all, not a group of ‘other’ older people,separate from the rest of the population. Talking about ageing in thecontext of different generations is likely to cause further divisions.Although ageism needs to be called out, this needs to be in a positiveway that presents a balanced alternative perspective rather thanreinforces the negative view.

Join our network!The Greater Manchester Older People's Network is allabout getting older people’s voices heard from rightacross Greater Manchester. Membership is open to

individuals aged 50 and over and to organisations thatsupport older people.

Our members receive a monthly newsletter, invitations to

our events and information about training andparticipation opportunities. It's up to you to get involved

in the network as much or as little as you would like.

For further information or to become a member pleasecontact Liz or Victoria on 0161 834 9823 or email

[email protected]

Website: www.gmopn.org.ukTwitter: @GMOPN1

p o s i t i v e a g e i n g a g e p r o u d : e x p l o r ... · associations with ageing and came...

Documents