Although I have lived nearby West Anaheim- about 15 min away- I never really knew much about this neighboring district. To provide a brief overview of Anaheim/West Anaheim it is widely diverse in culture and age groups. This neighborhood is particularly attractive to locals and tourists alike due to being the popular location host of Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center. And, outside of these famous features the neighborhood is overall quite age-friendly. Based on my report, I can say that the WHO domains with the greatest strengths include: outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, social participation, and community support and health services. However, some of West Anaheim’s weaknesses are housing as well as communication and information. West Anaheim has a vast amount of green spaces provided with well-kept parks, a variety of resources for volunteering and employment available, and great transportation systems. However, the weaknesses previously mentioned are considered so because these domains were quite difficult to locate information on and/or had limited availability of these aspects. For example, there are a limited number of housing units dedicated to low-income seniors. This project was very eye-opening, and definitely has me, personally, looking out at other neighborhoods to see if it's suitable for those of all ages. I am fortunate enough and am glad to know that my grandparents live nearby in a neighborhood, West Anaheim, that allows them an ample amount of resources, services, green spaces, and inclusion. The WHO checklist is so comprehensive, and I think these domains are items others should definitely learn and note to see if their neighborhood is age-friendly or not. This, also, leads to another reason why this NAP project is so impactful because by identifying gaps in these checklists it can lead to possible policy implications to be addressed and acknowledged.
In this week’s LCS class, students each shared their unique infographics in all different styles and topics that all sum up to one focus: debunking ageist myths! For starters, the importance of the topic is best stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), “Ageism is everywhere, yet it is the most socially “normalized” of any prejudice, and is not widely countered – like racism or sexism. These attitudes lead to the marginalization of older people within our communities and have negative impacts on their health and well-being”. Personally, for my topic I discussed and seeked to debunk the ageist stereotype of intimacy being diminished as we age. To debunk this, I made an infographic that showed varying statistics that show how older adults can and do regularly keep up intimacy later in life. For example, nearly half of those ages 75 to 85 sexually active persons are reported to still have sex at least 2 to 3 times a month. I think this is an especially important topic to discuss because it’s often just not because it is seen as taboo and/or uncomfortable. However, this stigma can lead to negative social repercussions such as older women potentially feeling less unattractive. This assignment was truly fun to be able to create a truly deserved talk about a subject to be brought into light in a fun, creative manner. This is definitely seen in all the other LCS’s work with all their different infographics debunking both ageist myths and/or mending the generational gap between the aging population.
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Katie HuynhArchives
June 2020
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