Fighting stereotypes about aging with photos
SASKATOON — Some of Saskatoon’s more experienced citizens are using photos to combat commonly held beliefs about what older adults are capable of doing.
“Older adults are not all in nursing homes. Most of them are very active. Most of them continue to do what they did as younger adults,” says Mercedes Montgomery, who presents Age Alive to schoolchildren in the city.
“If we can create that kind of awareness, that’s a positive outcome.”
What began as a photo competition has become a travelling exhibit featuring images of folks participating in the active pursuits not always associated with an older crowd.
They’re riding horses, doing yoga and posing in exotic locations.
It started in 2010. The Saskatoon Council on Aging (SCOA) was looking at ways to combat ageism in the city.
“If the assumption is that older adults are frail, and not engaged, it really does change how people think about what kind of services they might want to participate in,” says Candace Skrapek, former chairperson of SCOA.
Age Alive was conceived as a way to show real-world examples of seniors’ capabilities. First, SCOA offered digital photography classes, to older people and children. Both were tasked with shooting photos of older people living life to the fullest.
“There were photos of people doing amazing things,” says Jeanette Dean, who along with her husband Christopher administered the contest.
SCOA decided to tour the exhibition. It’s appeared in almost all of the city’s high schools and a few elementary schools.
“The message we try to leave them with is to think before you speak, and remove some of the traditional words out of your vocabulary,” Montgomery says. She invites students to role play situations where older people find themselves discriminated against.
“What does a senior mean? Would you call all people from the age of 20 to 65 middle aged? Whereas you have no qualms about calling anyone over the age of 60 seniors. But in fact it’s a very, very diverse group,” she says.
“(High school students) can understand the stereotypes because teenagers get stereotyped — all teenagers are bad, or surly, or whatever,” Skrapek says.
“So they understand this notion of a very large group of people being stereotyped into one simple group that doesn’t really apply.”
There’s still a long way to go, according to Skrapek, but projects like Age Alive are part of the SCOA’s wider initiative to make Saskatoon more age-friendly.