Editorial

Citation

Klee, D. (2015), "Editorial", Working with Older People, Vol. 19 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/WWOP-10-2015-0026

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Working with Older People, Volume 19, Issue 4.

Deborah Klee

In conversation with Dorothy Runnicles

This year we celebrated the 70th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe) which marked the end of Second World War. Dorothy Runnicles, community activist, older person service-user and researcher, served in Second World War as a petty officer wren in the Royal Navy Airforce. I asked Dorothy to share her reflections on VE Day and a life spent addressing social injustice working for a fairer and safer world.

Dorothy Runnicles talks about her experience in Second World War in a Guardian (2015) article. At the age of 19 Dorothy was a mechanic servicing planes. She had the responsibility at this young age of saying whether or not a plane was "fit to fly". A huge responsibility for one so young. The Royal Navy Air Station was run almost entirely by women. The chief officer was a woman and most of the mechanics.

In the war, women were given opportunities that would otherwise have been unimaginable as the 1940's were a time of sexual inequality. In this joint editorial Dorothy speaks passionately about ageism and the need to take action to change attitudes, learning from the activists that addressed sexism and racism.

Dorothy was one of the first women to go to university and qualify as a social worker when the war came to an end. She has spent a lifetime as a community activist and researcher working predominately with improving the life experience of older people. Now in what Dorothy calls her tenth decade, she is loosing patience for the time it is taking to change attitudes to ageing. She calls for new action however small to break the cycle.

"There has been so much research telling us what older people want", she says, "but nothing really changes and this is not worthy of intelligent people who commission and carry out the research". There have been many publications telling us to involve older people in developing services, to listen to older people, to engage with them. But ageism is like sexism sometimes you know that the person is paying lip service to the notion but they do not really believe that an older person can make a valuable contribution. There is an attitude of "we know best". As a young social worker Dorothy advised parents on raising children, it was only after becoming a parent that she realised her understanding of being a parent had been flawed. "It is only when you experience later life that you can really understand what it means".

In a paper published in this journal (Runnicles, 2003) Dorothy talks about person-centred care. She remarks that a social worker visited her to assess her needs and concluded that she "was not yet decrepit enough" (Dorothy's words) to qualify for social care. Dorothy went on to do her own assessment and started with her strengths and her social networks. At that time Dorothy was attempting "to adjust to constant losses and changes in my strength and roles which come with old age". She says, "to me it is best described as 'the rise and fall of personal identity' which happens during many people's life. Recognising what a person can do rather than focusing on what they cannot is essential. Everyone can do something that is of value to another person. We need to recognise the importance of reciprocity". Dorothy cared for her mother who had dementia for ten years. "I cared for her but she was also caring for me. We needed each other".

Dorothy Runnicles serviced planes as a mechanic in Second World War, she has been an activist for peace – joining Greenham Common peace camp in the 1980s, she has raised a family, had a career as a social worker and researcher and continues to influence policy makers in the field of ageing. It is time we listened and learned from the wisdom of her experience and many other people experiencing later life.

This issue of Working with Older People brings together ideas from innovators in how to change attitudes to ageing and to make it a positive experience. The first paper is from "The age of no retirement", a movement for social change. I have been following the activities of this movement since its inception in October 2014. It is stimulating new thinking and leading design led actions across all sectors of society to breakdown ageist stereotypes.

Lynne Marie Wealleans from the Beth Johnson Foundation continues this theme in her paper, "From positive ageing to positive living". This case study examines key elements of positive ageing within the life course and challenges negative stereotypes.

Ageing well is the theme of Iwan Williams et al.'s paper, "Ageing well in Wales". Iwan reports on the first year of this ambitious national programme to improve the health and wellbeing of older people in Wales.

There are two papers that address the importance of meaningful connections between people, particularly in later life when people may become socially isolated. Andy Bradley's paper, "Crossing the bridge" gives a moving account of connecting with people in the later stages of dementia. Practical examples are given of how staff working in care services can help people to maintain and develop connected relationships.

Shelagh Marshall OBE and Janet Crampton share their experience of a very practical approach to reaching older people in a community who may be experiencing social isolation and loneliness. "Making connections", reports on a pilot study with a leading high-street chemist to make connections with older people in two different communities.

The final paper "Collaborative design of Older Women's Co-Housing" is one that I commissioned after hearing a presentation from the authors. I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the women who co-designed their housing, by what they had learnt in the process and what the housing designers learnt from them. It is an excellent example of listening to and acting on the wisdom of people who know what they want.

The papers in this journal give me hope that we are moving into a new age where people will be respected and valued as they age. As Dorothy says, "It is time to take action however small to break the cycle" of ageism.

References

Guardian (2015), 6 June, available at: www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/06/d-day-anniversary-veterans-remember-years-living-dangerously (accessed 2 September 2015)

Runnicles, D. (2003), "Assessing myself", Working with Older People, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 15-7