Community members
Older people and allies can act by challenging ageism on the spot or by considering what they would like to do or say, which may include crafting a written response.
Age Positive Communication Toolkit
Office for Ageing Well’s Age Positive Communication Toolkit is a guide to empower community members to speak out against ageism and to assist organisations and media to cast aside age-related generalisations and instead take a more nuanced approach.
Ageism, both overt and covert, permeates everyday life, with people experiencing age-related discrimination in the community, the workplace and through the media and popular culture.
Office for Ageing Well, under South Australia’s Plan for Ageing Well 2020-2025, seeks to promote an inclusive society, that values and respects older people and their contributions to the community.
Office for Ageing Well together with Think Human, worked with older South Australians to co-design the Age Positive Communication Toolkit for community members; organisations such as local and state governments, businesses and the not-for-profit sector; and media, to encourage production of communications and resources that are age positive and help to challenge ageist stereotypes.
The toolkit provides simple templates and ‘how-to’ resources to make it easy for anyone to stop and think when planning to communicate with and about older people whether in-person, or via advertising, news and current affairs, or other mediums.
The toolkit also advises on the use of images and graphics reflecting positive, diverse, realistic and relatable images of growing older.