The Ready for Ageing Alliance – a new charity sector coalition

We note and welcome a new coalition, The Ready for Ageing Alliance, formed to increase the pressure on Government and all political parties to face up to the major changes and challenges from our rapidly ageing society.

Like other commentators we wish it every good fortune but we have reservations. Some of those reservations have been adequately expressed elsewhere and we link you below to Dick Stroud’s excellent blog 50-Plus Marketing on the subject.

http://20plus30.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ready-for-ageing-alliance-will-it-make.html

We have long been asking for some statesmanlike approach to the subject of growing older but have seen very little so far. Indeed only this week we have seen major press coverage devoted to the exceedingly trivial issue of who should or should not receive free bus passes and TV licences. This does no credit to the media nor to the politicians involved but does highlight the very poor level of debate currently taking place.

Although the participating bodies in this new alliance are all much esteemed they do, in my opinion, have a fatal weakness – they are mainly concerned with today’s existing old, not tomorrow’s. As such they do not feature all that highly in most people’s consciousness.

The real way to get people involved in ageing issues is to make today’s young realise that this is coming for them, like it or not, and any change now will be for their benefit. And if they want improvement they must take personal and collective responsibility for their futures. Therefore, I would argue for a somewhat different mix of pressure groups to extend the sphere of influence.

Stating the b******* obvious

A report in today’s Daily Mail says that people should only be counted as elderly once they reach the age of 75.

The article is based on a report by the charity the City Bridge Trust developed with the help of what the DM calls “Labour-leaning think-tank” the Institute for Public Policy Research.

“75 is the new 65”, it says. “Many in the traditional pensioner age group – those over 65 – continue to lead lives similar to those of younger middle-aged people.”

The report said that efforts to help the vulnerable elderly should be adjusted and “a simple but blunt way of targeting those most at risk could be to focus on the over 75 age group rather than the over 65 group as most programmes and benefits currently do.”

I hope in these straitened times that it didn’t cost too much to produce this report.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2047683/Why-youre-really-old-youve-hit-75-pensioners-continue-live-like-middle-age.html#ixzz1aSTLSqgh

So how old is older?

Two recent developments in the “older” marketplace accentuated a persistent problem which the great and the good seem blithely happy to overlook (aren’t they listening? We have highlighted it many times previously …).

First, The BIG Lottery Fund last week announced it was to make its biggest single investment in older people with a £110 million package of Lottery funding to be used on voluntary and community initiatives.

Second, the government – through the DWP –launched The Age Action Alliance, an initiative designed to “improve the lives of older people and help transform communities into better places to grow older”. 

The latter initiative was launched to coincide with Older People’s Day – in itself a third example of the problem.

The press releases announcing these initiatives are both littered with the phrase “older people” with no explanation as to who exactly this means. Only a statement from the Daily Mail – which is helping promote the Big Lottery fund handouts – threw light on the situation by referring to its “previous campaigns on behalf of the elderly”.

In general parlance it is recognized that the phrase “older people” relates to anyone over about 50. Yet the 50 -70 age group is a whole generation below today’s “elderly” population and has a vastly different – although arguably equally pressing – set of needs.

Our requirement for a new vocabulary to clarify who exactly we’re talking about couldn’t be more urgent. Using a blanket term such as “older” in relation to today’s demographics meets no one’s needs at all.  

http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_silver_dreams_fund.htm?regioncode=-uk

http://ageactionalliance.org/

 

 

 

Old attitudes towards age

Ageist stereotypes are alive and well according to a recent depressing survey from financial services company Engage Mutual. They conducted a study with 2,000 people of all ages in Great Britain looking at perceptions of age and what people think are the ‘give-aways’ of getting old.

The top three signs of ageing highlighted by the poll were: falling asleep in front of the television, feeling stiff, and groaning when you bend down. Others included struggling to use technology, choosing clothes and shoes for comfort rather than style, and starting to drive very slowly.

Although some indicators such as forgetting people’s names, and losing hair (baldness) – while at the same time becoming more hairy (ears, face, eyebrows, nose etc.) – are regrettably unavoidable, the majority of the factors are behavioural. They can be overturned by older people making the effort to do things differently such as stopping groaning when you bend down/stand up, not talking about “senior moments”, and ceasing unnecessary complaining.

Why should we? Well, it would be good to pass this off as a light-hearted survey of older people’s charming idiosyncracies (perhaps no 21 was lacking a sense of humour about ageing?) –  but unfortunately the problem goes deeper than that.

If people of all ages still think of older people in these terms (including older people themselves), no wonder our prospects on the job market are so poor.

top 20 signs of getting old

1.       falling asleep in front of the television

2.       feeling stiff

3.       groaning when you bend down

4.       losing your hair

5.       hating noisy pubs

6.       thinking teachers / policemen / doctors look really young

7.       becoming more hairy – ears, face, eyebrows, nose etc.

8.       struggling to use technology

9.       forgetting people’s names

10.   not knowing any songs in the top 10

11.   choosing clothes and shoes for comfort rather than style

12.   you start driving very slowly

13.   drinking sherry

14.   when you start complaining more about things

15.   joining the Women’s Institute

16.   misplacing your glasses / bag / car keys

17.   you talk to colleagues who are so young they don’t know what an opal fruit is

18.   listening to the Archers

19.   moving from Radio One to Radio Two

20.   allowing yourself a mid-afternoon nap

 

 

Let’s have a Minister for Older People who understands being older

Anchor, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of care and housing is running a national campaign to petition the UK government to appoint a Minister for Older People.

Despite having a Minister for Women and another for Children and Families we have no government minister representing older people even though we make up 40% of voters.

Many governments around the world, including Ireland and Canada, have such a minister while both Wales and Northern Ireland have an Older People’s Commissioner.

At face value this seems a worthwhile campaign. As the number of older people increases a single minister could help ensure that the views and interests of the over 50s receive the attention they deserve.

However if such an appointment is made, it is vital that the post goes to someone with a genuine interest in and appreciation of the entire, diverse range of issues that relate to the 50 year or so time span that comprises “older”. Merely considering only the challenges of the elderly will not do. In addition, such things as pensions, caring responsibilities and continuing inherent age discrimination in the workplace are just a few of the key issues for those at the younger end of the “older” spectrum.

Allowing much-needed ongoing policies to be sabotaged by party politics will also not be helpful.

We also need someone who is older themselves (not difficult to find amongst government ministers) but who, for once, is prepared to talk about “us” and not “them”.

Visit http://www.gopetition.com/petition/44649.htmlto  to sign Anchor’s petition.

 

The reality of 21st century Isolation?

In June, the UK charity Friends of the Elderly ran a social experiment – ‘Isolation Week’ – that saw ten volunteers aged 22 – 50 years experience social isolation as if they were themselves an isolated older person. This involved the individuals being confined to their own homes for a whole week during which they were not allowed any human contact.

The participants also used special equipment such as gloves and vision-impairing glasses to let them experience the effects of physical ageing. Their experiences were recorded on video diaries, twitter, blogs and daily questionnaires. The final questionnaire gave them a chance to reflect back on what they had learnt from the whole experience.

In less than a week, the majority of the participants started describing experiences and feelings similar to those described by housebound older people. They felt lethargic and tired, struggled to find motivation to do things or get out of bed, became ‘uncharacteristically’ emotional, weepy and lost concentration. The days seemed to drag on with nothing apart from the tasks to break up the monotony. Several participants mentioned feeling abandoned by friends and society.

All mentioned boredom and some felt that this triggered further negative feelings, while others talked about the difficulties of combating boredom and the frustration and anger this often resulted in. They dealt with this by giving themselves tasks, e.g. housework, cooking and doing the laundry. They read books, watched films, played computer games and wandered around their house/flat. One person even mentioned counting the tiles in their bathroom! A couple of people got drunk to try and numb the feelings of abandonment, but concluded that this did not solve the problem.

However two of the volunteers seemed to cope better with the isolation than the other eight. Although they also experienced boredom and problems with motivation, they focused on what they were able to do rather than on what they had no control over. One used yoga and meditation to combat negative feelings and the other planned and prepared elaborate meals and used the time to enjoy hobbies and other activities that external pressures would normally not allow. A third volunteer also mentioned ‘getting on with an enjoyable task’ that they had not had time to do previously as a positive experience. However, all three admitted that they did not enjoy the prolonged isolation from human contact.

In itself this study tells us nothing new; we know intuitively that most people dislike and do not cope well with isolation (hence using solitary confinement as a punishment).  But it does raise the interesting question of how much the advent of social media will contribute to overcoming such problems for older people in the future. In this study participants were not allowed to speak to anyone on the phone or communicate in a two way conversation via the internet. Yet with the increasing use of the internet and webcams by people of all ages – alongside texts and emails – it is difficult to imagine why the older people of the future should, in general, be as socially isolated as those of the past.   

It was also interesting to note that those who managed best were those who had interests and activities that they could do. A warning surely that with impending old age we must all develop coping mechanisms in terms of finding ways to occupy ourselves and things we are able to do rather than just holding up our hands and assuming we are powerless.

It should be recognised that this social experiment could not mimic the true reality of socially isolated housebound older people with few resources. However, the week did illustrate in the words of one of the volunteers ‘how easy and quick it is to become isolated and feel out of society’.

Further information can be found at www.isolationweek.com

Glad to be old

I was heartened to read, within one day, two media articles in which our new found mass longevity was considered “A Good Thing”.

Quite why, when in general people seem to think that being alive is desirable, living longer is consistently positioned as a huge social problem is a bit of a puzzler. Okay, so it may mean we need to change some of the ways we do things, but that aside we should all be rejoicing much, much more than we seem to be about the fact that, in general, we can all contemplate many more years of drawing breath and eating cake.

Andrew Dilnot, Chairman of the Independent Commission of Funding of Care and Support, interviewed by Ros Altmann in Saga magazine summed it up rather well:

“I’d love people to have a more positive attitude to the provision of care. To get everyone, including policy makers and the media, to stop thinking this is a terrible burden and reflect instead that it’s fabulous and exciting that people are living into their eighties, nineties and even hundreds, and having independent fulfilling lives.”

His comment followed an interesting article read earlier in the day in the business journal Management Today reviewing the ongoing influence of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (Why Jung still matters). Whilst highlighting many areas in which Jung’s legacy still forms an integral part of contemporary business practice, the author was also at pains to remind us that in relation to today’s ageing population Jung would have had plenty to say. Unlike many psychologists (including Freud) Jung believed that middle age was precisely when life gets interesting, commenting: “A human being would certainly not grow to be 70 or 80 years old if this longevity had no meaning for the species”.

Perhaps it’s time then that we all focused on what that meaning is and how to use it for the greater good instead of associating this time of life solely with decline and decay?

Ageism vs realism

There’s been a lot in the media lately about discrimination and the various “isms” – first the BBC presenter Miriam O’Reilly’s case concerning ageism and this week, the Sky football commentators being dismissed for sexism.

Both cases accentuate the extent to which although derogatory comments arguably spoken in jest (“watch those wrinkles”, “women don’t understand the offside rule”) might be innocuous at a certain level, they nevertheless inflict significant and incremental damage in terms of overall societal attitudes.

What we say perpetuates myths and stereotypes that simply aren’t true, but by saying them – and hearing and reading them – it reinforces the message that they must be.

Two news items today have emphasised this. First, a press release from LV (the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society) summarising the findings of a new report into ageing. Their findings really aren’t anything new; they simply reinforce that 60-somethings are happier than their younger counterparts, feel financially and physically fitter and take more holidays.

Again unsurprisingly, the report shows that the definition of what is ‘old’ is different for every age group. According to the research, no one in the UK thinks they themselves are old; 18-19 year olds say 44 is officially ‘old’ while 40-somethings balk at this and say 67 is when you are actually ‘old’. Those in their 50s think you’re over the hill at 71 while those in their 60s think you’re past it at 73. Presumably they didn’t ask the over 70s if they felt “past it”.

So all this did was reinforce what we all know is reality: these days old age isn’t at all bad and starts much later than some younger people think. Why then in writing an otherwise quite informative article about marketing to older people does a journalist (or his editor) in the Independent think it’s okay to use a subheading “the booming consumer market is not young and funky, it’s old and wrinkly.” 

“Old and wrinkly” is a term that arguably is offensive even for ageing elephants. Used in respect of older people in the twentyfirst century it is inexcusable. The offence is then compounded by use of a number of other terms such as “granny friendly”

In common with many in his profession the journalist fails to specify who exactly he is talking about in referring to older people making the inevitable journalistic error of treating us all as one group, e.g. in talking about mobility aids he says, “Is it possible to make them acceptable to a generation who think they’re Keith Richards and Helen Mirren?” Stairlifts for people in their sixties – what is he on about?

Meanwhile Stannah show a greater grasp of reality by stating “They (stairlifts) are a really positive thing for people, so we talk to the extended family, the sons and daughters”. Yes, it is the sons and the daughters – “older people” themselves – who are involved in the buying decisions, not for themselves but the generation above them.

The article ends on an even worse note in terms of a lack of understanding of older people: “Stand by for an explosion in goods for the Third Age generation. Sit tight for the supercharged golf buggy. Hold on for Jean-Paul Gaultier incontinence pants. Stand by for the Philippe Starck walk-in bathtub…”

A clear reminder, if any was needed, that any “ism” is fuelled by a complete disregard for reality.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/sexy-stylish-sixty-why-pensioners-are-having-all-the-fun-2196495.html

BBC “Living longer” week – this week

Hardly a week goes by now without some aspect of the huge demographic change taking place capturing the headlines. One week it is retirement age, another week pensions, another unemployment, or maybe age discrimination. The issues are all vitally important and ever more pressing. This week the BBC is devoting itself to exploring a number of issues.

BBC ‘Living Longer’, a week of special programming on all Local Radio, on-line and regional television in England is running from Sunday, 7 November. Through specially commissioned research and grass roots reporting in the English regions, BBC Living Longer examines, in depth, the issues and opportunities facing an ageing population including social care; impact of caring on families; the cost to the NHS; work, retirement; and the opportunities of ageing.

Forty local radio stations, 12 regional television news programmes and a number of regional Politics Show programmes, as well as 44 local websites are working together on the editorial. And 40 BBC local reporters will file reports throughout the week.

A Facebook page has been specially created at www.facebook.com/bbclivinglonger for people to contribute or you can visit www.bbc.co.uk/livinglonger to keep in touch with what is going on and being said.

As part of the week of coverage BBC Local Radio has carried out research into the future of social care provision by local authorities in England and will reveal the number of complaints about elderly care services in the last 3 years. An indication of the best and worst places to grow old will also be provided through a specially commissioned report from Experian.

David Holdsworth, Controller BBC English Regions said:

“Living Longer is tackling an issue that affects all of us. No matter what age. Either as carers ourselves or the care we are likely to receive when we are elderly. BBC Local Radio will bring together its radio, regional television and on-line services to deliver a comprehensive picture of what the future holds for growing old in England today. This will tap into grassroots public reaction providing an England-wide picture in a week of extensive coverage that links into BBC network output.”

We’re not giving “all our love” this week, Michael McIntyre

Just at a time when the new Equality Act is being implemented and a major new report has been published by the EHRC, it was sad (and rather sinister) to see Andrew Lawrence’s act on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow last Saturday. We are regular devotees of this show and the comedians it highlights but not, I am afraid, Andrew Lawrence.

Irrespective of whether one finds his particular style very funny, the ending of his performance with an impassioned rant about “old people” was distasteful and unhelpful, even possibly hateful. If one had substituted some aspect of “race”, “religion”, “disability” or “gender” for “age” his tirade would, no doubt, have been seen as totally unacceptable. It had that same uncomfortable feel as Joel Grey’s “Master of Ceremonies” persona in Cabaret. Be very afraid if this is a taste of things to come. Overreaction? Maybe?

His act finished with the following exhortation towards old people,

“You won’t die!

When will you die?

Why can’t you just die?”

To view his performance on You Tube click below. The particular piece referred to comes after about six and a half minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Ns3Q5P_1k

 

 

 

The voice of older people says goodbye

At 77, Dame Joan Bakewell is retiring from her role as the first official Voice of Older People.

She’s done a good job, not least by demonstrating that at 77 she is more on the ball than most people several decades younger.

In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph explaining her decision she focuses on a couple of our own pet themes: the way that older politicians and policy makers refer to older people as “they” rather than “we”, and society’s lack of an adequate vocabulary to describe what it means to be older these days:

“…when writing or speaking, I quite legitimately referred to “us” rather than “them”. It was quite an important subliminal change. Too many documents, statements and articles had talked of the old as a separate enclave of society, a definable group to be lumped together as one order, rather as David Attenborough might refer to apes. As discussions and public debate have become more widespread, the shift in vocabulary has mattered, an indication that the old are speaking out more than ever for themselves and being heard.”

Dame Joan’s belief is that following Wales and Northern Ireland the country now needs a Commissioner for Older People, someone with a full-time professional job and accompanying back-up and funding. My heart sinks at the thought. A Commissioner for anything seems to represent endless bureaucracy, political correctness, and the expenditure of vast amounts of money to achieve very little.

Nevertheless, older people should have a voice particularly in light of the fact that according to a recent Age UK survey 78% of the over 60s feel that older people are ignored by society. 

Joan believes that the focus from now on will be different: “…as we see the Equalities Act take effect, we move into an era of implementation and action.” Nice to believe, but I’m not convinced. Plenty more needs to be said on behalf of older people before we’ll get that far.

My suggestion is to replace Joan with the admirable Joanna (Lumley) and build on what has already been achieved.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7599429/Im-off-but-my-role-has-come-of-age.html

You’re only as old as you feel

In the face of last week’s research showing that “old” age is universally believed to start at age 58* it was good to read this week that your interpretation of how old you feel has far-reaching implications for the process of ageing.

That’s the view of two American academics who compared people’s chronological age and their subjective age to determine which one has a greater influence on cognitive abilities during older adulthood.

Their results** show that if you are older and maintain a sense of being younger, then that gives you an edge in maintaining a lot of the abilities you prize.

Nearly 500 people in the US aged 55-74 were surveyed in 1995 and 2005 as part of the National Survey of Midlife Development.

In 1995, when people were asked what age they felt most of the time, the majority identified with being 12 years younger than they actually were. A decade later those people were more likely to have greater confidence about their cognitive abilities.

The research team admit, however, that it remains unclear which comes first. Does a person’s wellness and happiness affect their cognitive abilities or does a person’s cognitive ability contribute to their sense of wellness?

They are planning to address this in a future study – it will make interesting reading.

Until then, the message clearly seems to reinforce what we have always believed: in later life it’s important to maintain a sense of youthfulness by keeping up with new trends and participating in activities that are both mentally and physically challenging and invigorating.  

Part of not getting old is not letting yourself decline. 

*   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7458147/Middle-age-begins-at-35-and-ends-at-58.html

 **  Markus H. Schafer and Tetyana P. Shippee. Age Identity, Gender, and Perceptions of Decline: Does Feeling Older Lead to Pessimistic Dispositions About Cognitive Aging? The Journals of Gerontology Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 2010; 65b (1): 91