“People use this phrase, ‘the elderly.’ But there is no such thing.” So says Christine O’Kelly, co-ordinator of Age-Friendly University at DCU.
Our Membership and Digital Engagement Officer Brian Desmond went to meet Christine and chat about ageism in Irish society and combatting it through intergenerational activities.
Christine told Brian that a lot of ageism still exists.
“The needs of people change as they get older. So, the needs of somebody who's 50 are different to the needs of someone at 70. But they're all considered ‘older’.
However, she says that because their programmes in DCU are intergenerational, bringing young people and older people together for different forms of learning and activities, young people are also positively influenced by older people and it changes their perspective.
This is so important, Christine says, “especially now, with a lot of young people facing issues with mental health. It's very calming for young people.”
Christine says that digital literacy is now “one of the basic things people need to know”, and there is a lot of ageism around this too, and learning needs to accommodate people and meet them where they’re at.
“People want to know things,” she says. “I mean, if I want to know how to get onto Revenue online, well, the first thing I do is look at YouTube. If I want to wire a plug, I look at YouTube. Most people only want to know what they want to know.”
When it comes to digital literacy, she says the main area of concern for older people is how to stay safe online.
“Before you went into the bank, you filled out your lodgement slip, you filled out your withdrawal slip, and you might do a bank giro or a credit transfer. Now, you have to do it all online. People may not be all that au fait with the new terminology. And you're being forced to do this.”
However, she says that older people’s knowledge and skills should not be underestimated.
“We’ve got people who ran businesses. We have several people in the programme who sold their companies for a lot of money. We've got women who had ten children and ran households, and would do the balance of the budget better probably than the Minister for Finance.”
Combatting Ageism
“As a country, Ireland is very good on the age-friendly front, but it's still very ageist. It's very segregated between younger and older people.”
She says that retired people still so much to contribute. “But are they being given the opportunity to contribute? Probably not, and I think the breakdown in the family structure we have in Ireland in particular, contributes to that. I think that people are quite insular.”
“I grew up in a family full of adults with all different ages. They were all significantly older than me, so I actually don't see age. I know this sounds bizarre and weird, but people thought when I was growing up that my brothers were my father, and my parents were my grandparents. I never saw this as being an issue. I never saw age as being a barrier to anything.”
She says that, following on from the EU Green Paper on Aging, published in 2022, there’s still a lot of work to be done in Ireland.
“We haven't changed our attitudes in years. Governments are reactive, not proactive.
They are not thinking about it in an innovative way, even though we have a huge ageing population. At the moment, only 11% of our population is over 65. By 2050, 27% will be over 65. We've already seen the impact on our health systems and public services, and yet there is little appetite at Government level to take the long view.”
Read more about DCU’s age-friendly learning opportunities here.