Australia’s first Ageism Awareness Day is being held today – Friday 7 October.

Led by the Every Age Counts coalition, Ageism Awareness Day aims to draw attention to the existence and impacts of ageism in Australia.

This is a critical step to changing community attitudes to ensure people of all ages are valued and respected and their contributions are acknowledged.

According to Every Age Counts, one in two people globally are ageist, which means half of the world’s population holds negative attitudes about ageing and older people.

Ageism Awareness Day follows on from the International Day of Older Persons (1 October) and South Australia’s Week of Older People, which urged the community to reflect on how they treat the older people in their lives.

The Week included a free-to-air television and social media blitz of the ‘Ageism can lead to abuse’ video, produced in Adelaide, that premiered on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (15 June) this year.

The video highlights that ageism is pervasive, unconscious, and can infringe on the rights and freedoms of older people. It urges the community to learn to recognise ageism and call it out; to prevent abuse, mistreatment, and neglect of older people.

The South Australian Government is committed to challenging ageism, with Office for Ageing Well continuing to expand South Australia’s capacity as an age friendly state, building on the Age Friendly SA Strategy and Statement of the Rights and Freedoms of Older South Australians.

Tackling ageism is an Enabling Factor of South Australia’s Plan for Ageing Well 2020-2025, and will be a key pillar of the Strategy to Safeguard the Rights of Older South Australians 2022-2027, to be released later this year.