Tipping point?

Walmart are now starting to sell coffins on-line at prices under cutting many funeral homes in the US. The prices are around $895 for a "Dad Remembered" steel model. Asda in the UK is starting to sell walking sticks and mobility aids in some stores. Does this mean that after so many years we're nearly at the "tipping point" where relevant new products and services targeting the needs of older people will become mainstream? I hope so, it's been a long time coming....

Potential breakthrough

The word "presbyopia" sums up what many people in their mid-life experience, the need to wear reading glasses, and it is usually accompanied by a growing frustration that many things are written in font too small ie restaurant menus. Today it is reported that a Yorkshire based company, Ultralase, has made a breakthrough in treatment for this eye condition. The treatment corrects the problem within 15-20 seconds and will be available in the UK for the first time soon.

It is also clear that the company recognises this is likely to be a very big market due to the growth in the ageing population and the fact that their research shows that many people feel self conscious wearing glasses. Will this be the death knell for Spec Savers et all?

A pensioner's life

I read in the Yorkshire Post this week that the insurance company AXA are asking a handful of people aged 25-40 to live off the state pension for a week i.e. less than £95. It seems to be part of a campaign to get this age group to think more seriously about putting money aside for the future. I thought it was quite an innovative way to get over the message by using peer group case studies and it will be interesting to see the results.

The lady who was featured had to seriously adjust her current life style and expenditure to be able to live off this amount of money involving shopping at Lidl and taking the bus and it was all seen as a bit grim. However, I was wondering if it would also help to show that our current life is just all too fast and the stresses we create in many respects unnecessary and that maybe, just maybe, slowing down and having the time to travel in a more leisurely fashion, looking around at nature, cooking from basic ingredients etc may show a life much more appealing.We have two key resources, time and money, and possibly we have lost sight of how precious time is.There again it would be good to have the money to enjoy our precious time without worrying and there are so many in our society unable to do this. I hope the AXA pilot helps in some way to address this.

Equality Bill

It was good to see Harriet Harman and Trevor Phillips talking about the impact of the forthcoming Equality Bill but Phillips also warned there was a lot of ageism in the City, saying: "The financial services industry has a very particular age structure; it hires and promotes preferentially between 25 and 39, and that in itself immediately poses a disadvantage to women," he said. "The culture of the industry effectively says that, after 40, you haven't got anything to contribute." This kind of ageism is also prevalent in other industries particularity advertising for example where the bulk of employees,95%, are under the age of 50.

Bearing in mind that the older generations have often been called "the invisibles" it's a bit scary if you start to be invisible from the age of 40. However, hopefully the increase in the number of older people who are healthier, better educated and more demanding than previous older generations and who are keen to vote will help to ensure that in time this kind of ageism will die out. It would be good if the Equality Bill could in some way accelerate this change.

Role models for the future

Soon the second war generations of the "Dunkirk spirit" and "make do and mend" mentality will be passing on the baton, making the "baby boomer" generations the elders of our society. This gives us a tremendous responsibility and also a great opportunity to be role models for future older people. We can start to change attitudes towards getting old. We can show that by staying fit and healthy, having a wide range of stimulating interests, sharing our experiences and supporting others and engaging in meaningful activities can make a difference to our older years and how we are viewed.There again,this applies to all generations.

New approaches to traditional values

"Tradition" and traditional values are commonly associated with older people and new, modern aspects of life are usually (and stereotypically) associated with the "young". But as usual, life is not so clear cut.

In York, a new branch of the Women's Institute is being founded by women in their 20s although their is no age barrier. They are interested in the old, traditional values of baking and jam making etc and this is seen as a new urban development bringing people together for social contact (and I suspect comfort in these difficult time).

What is great about this is is that they are also adding a fresh touch of technology to the successful WI recipe with social networking, Twitter and Facebook added to the formula. What a great blend and a way to keep the best of "old" fashioned values alive.

Rethink "older worker"

I came across the Age and Generations Study conducted by the Sloan Centre at Boston College yesterday. It states that "several major changes have occurred in recent years that make chronological age an unreliable indicator of individuals' experiences with regards to work and life". It asks the very valid question "why, when examining our workforce, would we compare groups of employees based on chronological age alone?"

It suggests examining employees' perceptions of employment experiences through "multiple age-related lenses" including for example:
-chronological age and generations
-life course eg life events and transitions
-career stage eg if someone has made a career change or taken time out of work they may actually feel they are in an earlier career-stage
-tenure ie the number of years an employee has been with an employer which is a measure of the relationship with the employer.

The Employers Forum on Age a number of years ago did research which focused on employees' attitudes, rather than their age, in terms of their likely performance at work.

This all strikes me as a much more positive approach to accessing the workforce although it is undoubtedly more complex for the employer.I suggest that if employers get a richer understanding of the individuals within their workforce using feedback from managers and the teams they lead, and take effective action,they can engender a more motivated workforce. We are also more likely to move away from the meaningless default retirement age of 65, which focuses on age alone and not attitude, ability, need, expereince etc etc .

Oxford Internet Institute Research

The Oxford Internet Institute has recently published the Oxford Internet Survey and the results show that only 50% of the 50+ age group has access to the internet. Not surprisingly this declines with age as you would expect ( for example 73% of 50-54s have access but only 20% of 75+).

Many of the areas being developed today use technology to help older people maintain their independence as they age,(partly because it is a much cheaper option). These developments will be able to provide communication links, help with day-to-day activities, health and care monitoring and hopefully much, much more and may be all well and good as part of a future strategy for dealing with our older folk but for the oldest age groups now, the solution has to be earlier intervention and prevention and more direct people-care.

Welcome

I've been thinking about blogging for awhile and this is my first attempt. I feel I have something to say, a view, an opinion and no real outlet so I'm going to see how this progresses.I have a passion for improving our older years and hope that this in some way can help

I wanted a positive title and many of the ones I liked have already been taken so I've gone with AgeBounce, partly inspired by an old friend of mine. Whenever you ask him how he is, he will reply "bouncing" and I've always felt envious that someone could always feel that good. So I just want to put a spring in the step of getting older.

In my first blog,I featured an extract from an article I wrote for the publication the Mature Times. This is the biggest campaiging newspaper for the 50+ with 500,000 readers and 100,000 accessing through the internet.Apart from the fact that they are good enough to publish some of my material, so I am obviously biased, they are really worth checking out if you want to keep up to date on some of the issues www.maturetimes.co.uk

Lily and Oscar: Mature Times article:

A link between Lily Allens’ latest single “22” and Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (now out on film) may seem unlikely or even improbable, but both are essentially about the loss of youth and beauty (and implied worth) due to age. They are also both great reflections of their time- one published in 1890 and the other 119 years later. They essentially show that our attitude to ageing hasn’t changed one jot.

You’re not missing much musically if you haven’t heard Lily’s song but I was intrigued by the words which are, something along the lines “when she was 22 her future looked bright, but she’s nearly 30 now and she’s out every night… how did I get here and wondering why? It’s sad but it’s true.. How society says her life is already over”, you get the gist. Now I was tempted to use the good old Sex Pistols’ response “never mind the boll**ks Lily” but I’ve got to say it did get me thinking. Is there hidden behind these poetic words a more serious issue that individuals in every generation have a tendency to self-discriminate based on age? This means they miss out on key opportunities because of an in-built pre-programmed predisposition towards negativity i.e. getting old is just plain “bad” (not in the Michael Jackson sense). Life is written off at 30 with a future spanning 50 years or more of gradual decline leading to ultimate despair and then death.

See the full article at www.maturetimes.co.uk