Thinking differently about ageing

With the support of the People’s Postcode Trust, a grant-giving charity funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, Action For Elders will work with older people across England and Wales to develop and share digital stories: which capture their unique insights into the ageing process.

Recent research has identified ageism as the most common form of discrimination in the UK. Often unspoken: attitudes toward older people can have a corrosive effect on society.

Working with Local Communities

We will be working with 60 older people in Hereford, York and Swansea who are all members of our Balanced Lives® weekly community-based wellbeing programme. Through training them in how to put together and film their stories, we will work together to give older people a stronger voice in the Community.

The Thinking Differently About Ageing project is also a wonderful opportunity to engage with the public to encourage discussion on later life in a positive and forward-thinking way. The project aims to challenge long-held public misconceptions about ageing and make strong progress in communication between the generations.

Clear Benefits and Goals

Through our project, Action for Elders aims to achieve the following goals:

• Older participants benefit from increased self-confidence, self-belief and communication skills.
• Audiences across the generations gain a proper understanding of later life, which leads to a more age-integrated society.
• Achieve long-term attitude change towards ageing and older people.

James Lewis, Action For Elders CEO says: “We are very pleased to receive this grant from the People’s Postcode Trust and excited to be working on a project that will have a hugely positive and lasting effect on attitudes for those in later life.”

There are some extraordinary stories to be told and shared in the Thinking Differently About Ageing project. Action For Elders hopes this ambitious year long project – which begins later this month – will give some much-needed understanding of how we can dispel the various myths and prejudices about ageing. Our long-term goal is to create a shared understanding of the benefits and opportunities enjoyed by older people.

For further information/images etc contact:

John Coleman
Communications Director
Action For Elders

Tel: 07768 478446

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