The diakonic campaign "Open to Seniors" continues

The ongoing campaign of the Diaconic Czech Evangelical Church (CEC) devoted to the subject of prevention of discrimination against older members of society is appearing once more in the form of illuminated advertisements on phone booths. The following slogan with the support of the media, has been depicted, beginning in the summer, through the end of the year, on banners all over major cities in the Czech Republic: "The name of today's tabu, is age". It is also present in newspapers, magazines and other public venues.

The advertisements quote mildly shocking statements about the subjects from several social studies of which the general public is mostly unaware. Is our view of the elderly truly and permanently estranged and distanced from them? Or are we still able to listen to them and approach them in a way that they deserve?

Age can give us more than we realize

The spirit of the campaign has been supported by a healthy but controversial clip, produced by Czech TV and the multikin CineStar network in collaboration with partners from the media. The video is available, with English subtitles, under the title "Age can give us more than we realize" at www.diakonie.cz/en .

Reality warns

Younger citizens undervalue seniors, call them derogatory names (old man, granddad, etc) and view them as "slow, confused, disabled". According to a recent survey performed in the Czech Republic, one out of every three citizens aged over 60 and more than half of those over 70 have recently had an experience during which they were treated differently just because of their age. And so called "ageism" does not apply exclusively to members of higher age groups. It also affects individuals who might be within the work force and are around 50 or even 45 and over.

Why seniors in particular?

The mission of the campaign is stated in its title, "Open to Seniors".Services for seniors constitute the major activities of the CEC Diakonie. They serve about 4000 seniors per year - in the field, in health centers and homes. They collaborate with the Czech Alzheimer Association and together they are part of the preparatory program : " Age, Platform Europe" for the European year of seniors, 2012.

Pavel Hanych