Resumption Of Role Status Through Leisure In Later Life
-The Senior population has changed drastically in the past few decades (they live longer, they're more active, they have more money) and yet our view of the elderly has stayed relatively static. This has created a programming problem: Recreation Professionals use the old view of elderly to program events that today's senior citizens are not interested in.
-Role-Person misfit: the struggle a person goes through when the role he is expected to play does not line up with who he believes himself to be. This is happening more and more frequently with elderly folks.
-As programmers, we should get the senior community involved in planning the programming. This gets them invested in the programming and leads to more effective programming. This is an easy, effective solution to the Role-Person Misfit situation!
-Most people providing goods or services to elderly folks assume the person is incompetent which only serves to anger the senior. Most seniors are fully capable of reading/writing/finding their way around/etc.
-3 concepts that make seniors' recreation experiences more satisfying:
1. Opportunity to contribute
2. identifying common enthusiasms with other people
3. Opportunity to demonstrate capabilities
-Recreation for the elderly population is not "babysitting"! Too many people view it this way.
- "...research has linked a decline in life satisfaction to involvement in formal recreation activity..."
-I think we should allow seniors to try things in much the same way we allow a child to try to ride a bike: Offer a little bit of help, but let them try! If they can't do it, we can put the training wheels back on, but you never know what they are capable of until you let them try.
Questions:
1. Have you ever seen/created/participated in programming that was geared towards elderly but NOT hosted in a place specifically for elderly? Is the recreation industry really providing for the elderly?
2.Are we also ignoring other publics in our communities? UNH has North East passage to provide recreation to individuals with disabilities, but what about people with mental disabilities, veterans, people who are suffering from psychological issues, people who are fighting long term diseases, etc?
3. Do our perceptions of the elderly community being weak, sick, incapable, etc. limit what seniors think of themselves and their capabilities?
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