Ageism and ICAL[i]
My
wife and I founded the Intergenerational Centre of Action Learning (ICAL)[ii]
several years ago. Our goal is to
bring together the younger and older age groups in projects that will help them
increase familiarity between each other.
For example one of our successful projects had an art painting workshop
where young persons and older age adults spent an afternoon together doing art
painting.
In
a book I read recently; A Social-Development View of Ageism created by Joann M. Montepare &
Leslie A. Zebrowitz there is a concentration on human development. After the introduction there is a
subheading that reads; What Do Children Know about Age?
They
reported that research indicates that as children grow up their experience with
older persons is a basic experience and these social experiences are “…one of
the first and most important social attributes to which children develop a
sensitivity that age is “…a primary social concept and that “…children’s
earliest social perceptions involve categorization of people on the basis of
their age-related characteristics.”
In fact they use the same cues we older people do.
The
important subtitle is; What Are Children’s Attitudes toward Older Adults? The authors proceed to discuss
“…children’s feelings toward adults (analogous to prejudice), children’s
knowledge about older adults (analogous to stereotypes), and their intended or
actual behaviors toward older adults (analogous to discrimination).
In
regard to children’s feelings research indicates that compared to younger
persons older adults are “…typically viewed negatively in comparison to younger
adults.
Further
children’s beliefs about traits, behaviors and abilities, young people were
found to get more complicated including “…older adults’ physical, cognitive,
and interpersonal qualities.” The
beliefs are more negative than positive. For instance “A common fear that
children have about growing old is becoming sick and dying.
There
also positive stereotypes about older persons in which youths “…often
characterize them as un-aggressive, polite, kind, good, friendly and wise”
Finally
we come to subheading Discriminatory Behavior where some research has found “…that
children as young as 3 years preferred younger adults over older adults and
“…when young children were asked what kind of activities they would engage in
with an elderly man, the majority said they would do things like ‘carry things
for him’, get his glasses, ‘push him in a wheel chair’, or ‘bury him’.
For
those of you who wish to have more information, there is a description of book
at the bottom of this post.
Elizabeth and I intend to continue developing intergenerational projects
that will build age equality.
Finally here are:
Ways to Attack Ageism[iii]
Ø
Make
Older Adults visible and important
Ø
Educate
and foster more positive public attitudes about aging
Ø
Advance
social health policy to provoke incentives for active living at all stages of
life
Ø
Involve
older adults in all aspects of community recreation, planning and civic affairs
Ø
Consider
the full spectra of older adult interests and needs in program design.
Ø
Promote
intergenerational physical activity
[i] The factual material for this blog post
can be found in Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons
(Edited by Todd Nelson ISBN 0-262-14077-2 Published by Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (2002) [There are 12
chapters and 359 pages focused on various aspects of Ageism
[ii] For a view
go to ical.ca
[iii] For more
info go to www.alcoa.ca
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