Ageism Awareness
Have you ever held specific expectations for a certain age? Have you ever avoided celebrating your birthday? Do you think people should act their age? If any of those sound familiar, it’s possible you are like the rest of us and hold some level of age bias. That’s okay! But what you may not know is that the beliefs and attitudes you have about aging can have a big impact on your health and well-being.
The Ageism Awareness Campaign was launched in October 2022 by the Office on Aging and Independence in partnership with Age-Friendly Howard County. We want to help Howard County residents think more positively about aging and embrace the gifts that every age offers. The campaign meets people where they are and provides interesting materials from which to learn and grow.
Formal Training
Designed for groups interested in delving into the research on ageism, age discrimination, and personal age biases. These trainings are interactive and emphasize active group participation. Feedback from training attendees:
“I hadn’t thought about [ageism] in the sense of how often it is used and the negative affect it has.”
“I learned some things I say that I intend to be flattering may not be taken that way.”
Community Discussions
Community Discussions facilitate in-depth dialogues on aging and experiences of ageism through highly interactive conversations guided by thought-provoking questions. Each session lasts a minimum of 90 minutes. Key insights from previous participants include:
“Aging is a very unique process, and everyone does it their own way, but sharing experiencing out loud helps us learn that we have a lot more in common than we thought before!”
“In the end, we drilled down to the point that combatting ageism starts from within and each of us has a responsibility to ourselves and others to embrace aging experiences.”
