Ageism is one of the most pervasive and often overlooked forms of discrimination affecting older people.

Our CEO, Gohar Yazdabadi, was the featured guest speaker for a timely webinar hosted by Elder Abuse Action Australia to explore how ageism shows up across our communities, systems, and everyday interactions, and how it connects with loneliness in later life.

“A clear finding [from COTA NSW research] is that ageism is not rare. It’s very widespread.”

“Ageism really shapes the way society views older people. It shows up in assumptions that older people are less capable, less valuable, less entitled to autonomy or decision making and these attitudes then influence how older people are treated in families, communities and institutions.”

“We wanted to explore experiences of ageism and loneliness amongst older people in NSW, and the way that they intersect with elder abuse, and why it’s important that we think about these issues together.”

The presentation highlighted

• key data on loneliness and the prevalence of ageism
• who perpetuates ageist attitudes and behaviours
• the real impacts on older people’s health, wellbeing, access to services, and human rights, including the role loneliness and ageism can play

The event offered an opportunity to pause, reflect, and “hold up a mirror” to the assumptions we may not always recognise.

Ms. Yazdabadi invited the audience to consider how we can contribute to more respectful, inclusive responses to ageing and to reducing loneliness in our communities.

Look out for more from our research findings based on what older people in NSW told us about the impact of ageism on their daily lives, coming soon.