In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need to set a day aside each year to celebrate seniors – we would be appreciating them every day! But with the hope that we can move further in that direction, I’d like to share how my life has been enriched by working with older adults (not everyone wants to be known as a ‘senior citizen’).
For over five years, I’ve been a facilitator for the Virtual Senior Center, a program of Selfhelp Community Services. Intended for those who are mostly restricted to their homes, this program allows participants to keep learning and to socialize with each other, key components of a rewarding life as we age. I teach monthly classes on a variety of topics to students who participate from their computers; we can all see each other, which is so much more engaging than the traditional audio-only webinar.
For over seven years, I’ve worked for DOROT to help older adults with technology questions and challenges. Following a long-term volunteer role mostly as a computer tutor, earlier this year I joined the staff of DOROT as Program Coordinator to design curriculum for a new One-On-One Technology Coaching Program which is initially focused on training seniors in their homes on how to use mobile phones. It has been especially rewarding for me to enable our clients to join the digital world which so many of us now take for granted. Our oldest clients are 103 and 100, thoroughly debunking the stereotype that age is a deterrent to learning.
So what can YOU do on Wed, Aug. 21 for National Senior Citizens Day?
- If you are lucky enough to already have older adults in your life, make plans to spend time with them. As I’ve learned at DOROT, inter-generational relationships are especially rewarding since seniors love to share their experience with a younger person.
- If, like me, many of your older relatives and friends are no longer living, get to know someone who is alone. Human companionship is so important to helping seniors to feel valued and less lonely.
- support organizations such as the Radical Age Movement which seek to insure that older adults are not discriminated against. Learn more about resisting ageism from Ashton Applewhite at This Chair Rocks and at her anti-ageism clearinghouse Old School.
- attend events such as the Annual Symposium on Positive Aging on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Monday, November 4. (I’ll be one of the speakers)
- become a volunteer – DOROT has many opportunities available.
When you take the time to include older adults in your life, you will find (as I have) that you benefit as much as they do, as you learn from their experience and wisdom. Let’s make appreciation of our older adults an ongoing part of our lives, not just once a year.