‘They don’t make decisions until it’s too late.’ ‘We need to raise awareness amongst older people about housing choices.’ These are the statements you often hear in discussions about housing and older people. Now that I am of an age when I risk leaving the decision until it’s too late, I’ve thought a great deal about why that is.
To motivate me to move, it would have to be a very aspirational choice, a new chapter in my life that would get me over the hurdle of de-cluttering and the vagaries of selling up and buying somewhere new. But even if I could face it, what choices do I really have? I don’t want to be ‘sheltered’ or ‘extra-cared for’ or ‘assisted in my living’. Even if I could afford a ‘retirement property’ or ‘later life living’ and its on-going maintenance charges, I don’t really want to live only amongst people who are all of a similar age. One of the joys of the terrace house I currently live in is bumping into people of all ages and knowing I can ask for a little bit of help if I need it.
It was these dilemmas that inspired me to work alongside the late Esther Salamon on Independent Creative Living. As an artist and community activist, Esther was mindful of the people who reach their later lives with limited financial resources, but a wealth of experience and the desire to continue to contribute to life in a meaningful way. Esther drew others around her to explore what kind of housing might enable us to:
Our vision is not just to have a roof over our heads, but to create a vibrant community where we continue to have a real stake in the place where we live and where we contribute to the life of the wider community. We have learned from many interesting projects, in particular the older women’s co-housing project New Ground Co-housing, and seen how this form of living can foster mutual support and creativity in later life.
If older people are living in quality homes that they can afford, with the mutual support of the people living around them, evidence is beginning to show that they make less demands on our over-stretched health and care services. And perhaps more importantly, they stand a better chance of living a good quality of life, with purpose and meaning, and much less chance of the loneliness we hear so much about. Of course, it won’t all be motherhood and apple pie. As with any community, there will be issues which arise and conflicts to work through but there is plenty of learning from co-housing projects around the country about how to manage these.
So instead of complaining about the older people who don’t make timely decisions, isn’t it time to take a long, hard look at how we are planning our housing for an ageing population and come up with more imaginative solutions? Collaborative housing schemes like Independent Creative Living may take a bit more initial investment, but there is a growing body of evidence to show that this will pay off in people’s quality of life in later life. Surely that’s a price worth paying?
HOW YA KEEPING DEAR!
How Ageism works. An opinion piece.
Lumping us altogether!
Let us start by acknowledging that ageism affects people in diverse ways. The fact that we lump everyone over the age of 50 or 55 into one homogenized group is problematic. So, who are the older people? In policy terms it is a challenge, which often ignores the complexities of age range, class, gender, ethnic background, disability, and sexuality. Older adults are out there, but who are they? ‘Not me, ‘it’s probably those other old people’…
The net result is that professional interventions and services are often based on a ‘catch-all’ approach to older people. This is further exacerbated by framing older adults around conflicting and stereotypical language – older people on the one hand are perceived as frail, vulnerable, a burden on society, or as ‘superhuman’, running marathons and such like. This can be further reinforced by our everyday conversations and interactions with people – where we blame ourselves with expressions like ‘I’ve had a senior moment’ or ‘oh dear I’m always forgetting things’; and through structural ageism – embedded into laws, rules, social norms, policies and practices within our institutions. Ageism therefore becomes all-persuasive and accepted in all levels of society.
We are invisible!
Where are we?! Can you see us?! Older adults are either seen in a certain way, or not at all. There’ plenty of images of walking sticks, older people hunched over, older people with wrinkly hands or staring forlornly out of a window. On the other hand, you will not often see in graphics, photos, adverts, social media, or communications, with older adults going about their everyday business.
In the media
On TV, and the radio or in news print older people are often referred to as ‘ the Elderly’, or ‘plucky pensioners’, or older women as grandmothers, or grumpy old men and women, or even as ‘Captain Toms’, kindly souls with war medals and raising money for charity.
This is a major contributor to negative stereotypes. And it gets worse. If you tune in to day-time telly (luckily I still work full-time so can avoid) you’ll get adverts for stair-lifts, commemorative gold coins, cremation plans, life insurance (no questions asked and a free pen) and such like – presented to you by middle class white, heterosexual older couples (actors) dressed in pleasing sensible jumpers and slacks in pastels (I call this the ‘Valdoonicanisation’ of fashion for older adults). Oh, and do not forget Sir Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham erstwhile cricketing great, advertising weird vibrating gizmos to improve your muscles, while sitting down in your comfy armchair.
The obsession with youth!
The pressure is on to look like you did when you were younger. Women, and more increasingly men, are bombarded with products to hide the wrinkles, tackle the ‘ravages of time’ and cover that ‘unsightly’ balding patch. From the more drastic, plastic surgery to Botox and chemical fillers, the ageing process is treated like a disease which we must all avoid at all costs. Again, this devalues and ignores the positives of ageing, the wisdom, the experience, the expertise, and the ability to not care about what people think. Oh, and what is wrong with a few creases and crinkles!
You must do activities!
Much of the professional intervention with older people is focused on keeping people occupied and active. Again, this is often based on a set of persuasive negative assumptions of frailty, vulnerability, poor health, and the idea that older people are passive. This can also be framed around ’infantilisation’ – the tendency to treat older adults as children. Of course, many older people are keen to participate in groups and enjoyable social activities – but not everyone wants to sit around doing ‘colouring in’ (often in care homes) or having a ‘sing song’ from World War Two. These are activities often imposed on older people by younger professionals or ‘do-gooding’ volunteers – without asking the people themselves what they want.
Punching Down.
We often look for simple ‘common-sense’ solutions to difficult issues. Blaming ‘immigrants, people on benefits, and more recently disabled people for everything that’ wrong in the UK. In this I would include the media led culture wars based on the Millennials versus Boomers narrative. Here, we end up with a set of negative stereotypes with younger people blaming older people for being too wealthy and too reactionary, and the older generation pointing the finger at young people being anti-social and lazy. This is how the divide and rule playbook operates – used by the powerful against the powerless.
Rose-tinted spectacles
You hear it all the time – based on a set of clichés, repeated by every generation. This ‘it was better in my day’ perspective reinforces the idea of a halcyon days somewhere in the past. Such nostalgia has also found its way into interventions with older people. There is some value with memories work – particularly for those living with dementia, and we all enjoy reliving our bygone adventures or talking about a favourite rock track, but the over-emphasis on past lives, devalues who we are today. Youth identity is valued, and the positives of older age are buried away.
So how can we do things better?
We can start by recognising and using the skills, knowledge, expertise and lived experience of older people. BOPF works on a social-empowerment model, either directly representing our three thousand members, or ensuring that older adults are ‘in the room,’ at the heart of policy and decision-making. This means that older people themselves can identify the issues that affect them and, working with public bodies, find practical solutions. It means that we must challenge all forms of ageism, age discrimination and ageist stereotyping – still embedded in our institutions. It means that we support activism and campaigning led by older people. It means that older people are not discriminated in the workplace based on age. And it means that we do not need to spoil what can be a positive life situation by casting a shadow over the process of ageing. So, let us start by challenging the ageist narrative, by kicking patronage and passivity into touch, and by celebrating age and ageing as older people.
Ian Quaife – BRISTOL OLDER PEOPLE’S FORUM (BOPF) Director
