Human Centered Design and Ageism

Human centered design (HCD) is a powerful way to bridge the gap between the people making decisions and the people affected by those decisions. I am learning more about HCD by participating in the LUMA Practitioner Certification Program. I am seeking opportunities about how to apply HCD to my work with older adults in Allegheny County.

This article provides a tangible example about how to use HCD while addressing ageism and ableism. Ageism is pervasive and we talk about it so rarely. I heard a lot about ageism and the impacts on older adults during listening sessions that we conducted in Allegheny County as part of the PA Master Plan for Older Adults.

I pulled out some key learnings from this article that resonate with me and the learning curve that I am currently leaning into as I seek to apply HCD to ageism.

1.    Reframing the Problem, From a Resident’s Perspective

It is important to hear directly from older adults about the impacts of ageism in their lives. When we were talking about ageism, one participant from our listening sessions discussed the “microaggressions” against older adults. An example this person provided is being on a fixed income. According to this participant, everyone else gets some kind of increase except older adults. Stagnant income is an economic microaggression against older adults. This reframing of the conditions facing older adults as microaggressions helps me to think from a resident’s perspective about the impacts of ageism.

2.   Learning Through Doing

Housing is a major issue for older adults. As part of the listening sessions, we heard about access as an issue, some people, talked about affordability and others talked about living in unsafe conditions. There is not going to be one program or project that can address all these issues. The guidance of HCD offers that part of the process is prototyping to learn what works well and what needs to be changed. We are exploring several different housing initiatives to see what will work for older adults in Allegheny County and what needs to be changed. It is incumbent on me to always keep my mind open to trying new things. Also, not to get caught up in a project being perfect, which leads me to my final thought.

3.   The Process Is the Product

HCD encourages people and organizations to try many initiatives to explore what will take root. Part of the success of HCD is the process that brings people together to clearly identify issues and then to think about them from various perspectives.