ABSTRACT
Consider the following piece of reflective writing from Clare, one of the older people who undertook research for the Housing Decisions in Old Age (HDOA) study:
For most of my adult life I had been totally occupied — raising children, always surrounded by young people, I was constantly challenged both mentally and physically. Life was a ‘full on’ experience and packed with ever changing interests and goals. When you're focused and have aims, time passes very quickly and you are ‘too young and too busy to be growing older’! I suppose, on reflection, it was the approaching change in my finances when the truth of my situation began to take on, what seemed to me to be, a sinister perspective. I was used to the word ‘pensioner’, but all of a sudden, I was approaching the time when society classed me as an ‘Old Age Pensioner’. That, and a now deathly quiet and empty house, made me face up to the fact I had reached the time that I always knew would come. Someday! That is when I realized I did not cope with ‘negativity’ at all well.To simply fill in time was an anathema to me, and as I saw it, very, very negative. It was a very lonely and unsettling time and it lasted for five years, believe it or not!
The mythical ‘white knight’ comes in many guises. In my case, he wore the cloak of an advertisement from the Department of Continuing Education at Lancaster University.They asked for applications for a course teaching The Theory and Practice of Social Research’.The only criterion was that all applicants should be over the age of 60. Bingo! This was the way forward for me if they would accept me as a non-academic. My faith in my abilities, and myself, was instantly reinvigorated when I received the call to tell me I had been accepted. The icing on the cake at that point was when I received a student parking pass.‘Old Age Pensioner’? No thanks, not for me, too negative. To me, the word ‘student’ was non-discriminatory and was synonymous with positive thinking. I was moving forward again!
Clare's writing gives an insight into some of her reasons for being involving in the research by undertaking the course. She writes about her raised hopes and expectations that it might rescue her from having to ‘fill in time’ and give her a new challenge to focus her energies upon in her retirement. She also sees it as an opportunity to confront ageism and the stereotypical views about what older people can do.