WALRUS TALKS MOBILITY

Oct. 5, 7 p.m., David Braley Health Sciences Centre auditorium, McMaster University, 100 Main St. W. Tickets $12 (students $6) at the door or at thewalrus.ca

20-year Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, now in its third year.

One way to combat ageism is through education, Raina says. That’s why McMaster and the Walrus Foundation are presenting the Walrus Talks Mobility on Thursday evening on the topic of mobility within our aging population. The event features seven-minute talks from eight experts on their vision of a more inclusive society.

Raina and Denton are among the speakers, who also include Olympian kayaker Adam van Koeverden and Mental Heath Commission founding chair Michael Kirby.

In this case, mobility has a physical and figurative meaning, such as not being able to access transportation, Raina notes as an example. “If people’s mobility is impaired, this can result in social isolation, which has serious consequences like mental health issues, depression and … physical ailments such as infections, because depression can compromise the immune system,” he says.

“We want to … show that older people are not a burden to our society. We have to change this negative perception that every older person is sick or dependent on society.”

Eighty per cent, in fact, are functional and independent, Raina says.