Today is Age Without Limits Day, a campaign organised by the Centre for Ageing Better with the theme Celebrate Ageing. Challenge Ageism. The idea is that when we celebrate ageing, we challenge the negative beliefs and actions connected to older age.
At the Vivensa Foundation, we fund the remarkable science and radical social change needed to help everyone to age well. We care deeply about inclusion and work hard to address inequality. The ‘how’ we do is as important as the ‘what’ we do, and all our work is centred around our key values. Therefore, we only work with – and fund – organisations and individuals who share these values. (You can read more about this in Our Strategic Framework for 2025-30). That’s why we’re playing our part in Age Without Limits Day by talking about visual representation.
When you read an article about older age, how many times is it accompanied by a photo of a sad, frail woman under a blanket with a carer looking down on her? Or an extreme close-up of gnarly age-marked hands resting on a walking stick? These are neither positive nor representative images, yet they are prevalent. They inform how society feels around ageing and reinforce stereotypes that lead to ageism and age discrimination.
There is no typical older person
People worldwide are living longer. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “every country in the world is experiencing growth in both the size and the proportion of older persons in the population. By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over.” WHO also notes, “There is no typical older person. Some 80-year-olds have physical and mental capacities similar to many 30-year-olds.” Yet older people are often assumed to be “frail or dependent and a burden to society.” These attitudes are not only discriminatory but can affect the way policies are developed and the opportunities older people have to age well.
The importance of age-positive images
You only need type ‘older person’ into an image search engine to find photos featuring hospitals or medical settings, mobility issues, patronising carers, older people in despair, or worse, sprawled on the floor having fallen. If we had a pound for every walking stick spotted! According to NHS England, someone over the age of 65 might be considered an older person – although it’s not easy to apply a strict definition because people can biologically age at different rates. The problem is that the search term ‘older person’ brings up results related to frailty – and the two shouldn’t go hand in hand.
What does 70 look like these days? It might look like a fit, lean person in Lycra on their racing bike. Or an artist working in their studio. What does 80 look like these days? It might look like someone dancing with friends at a music festival. Or a couple enjoying a romantic date night. So why are we offered such a narrow slice of reality?
Today – and all year round – we will be encouraging those we support to use The Centre for Ageing Better’s Age-positive image library. This free resource of over 3,000 images shows realistic and positive images of people over 50. It shows older people at work, keeping fit, socialising, in their homes, using technology and practising their hobbies. The library shows them being active, fun, loving, playful, vibrant, fashionable, glamorous, quirky and full of life – all the things older people are. It shows age without limits.
There is no excuse for journalists and organisations to use negative or stereotypical images of ageing. We all play a part in shaping the society we want to be a part of. And as every single one of us is ageing, it’s in everyone’s best interests to look at the ways in which we represent older age in the media.
#AgeWithoutLimitsDay