(in)VISIBLE TALENTS: Encouraging and recognising the contributions of people 80+

Abstract

Invisible talents is based on the observation that older and especially very old people tend to become invisible in our society. They have left the workforce, they are less present on our streets, they have almost vanished from the media. The older a person gets the more he/she is less likely to be regarded as someone who has something to give and to participate meaningfully. In contrast to that, we think that everybody has something to give. Older and very old people carry with them a treasure of memories, experiences, knowledge and competencies (‘talents’). We believe that giving older people the opportunity to (re-)discover and contribute all the experience, knowledge and talents they have acquired in their long lives – as men and women with families, friends, paid and voluntary work, studies, hobbies and passions – not only makes our society richer and more colorful but also combats negative stereotyping and ageism. Given this background, the main idea of our project was to make the talents of older and very old people – in communities and organisations – (more) visible and to enhance their social participation. We supported older people and organisations working directly with older and very old people to: • self-reflect the status quo of participation and engagement opportunities in their organisation. • develop concrete activities that promote the engagement of older people and make their talents visible.