STREETFACE See Me, Respect Me Campaign for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

This year to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day the Barwon Elder Abuse Primary Prevention (BEAPP) Network has partnered with the City of Greater Geelong to launch the STREETFACE See Me, Respect Me campaign.

Our campaign seeks to humanise and make visible older people living in the Greater Geelong region and to challenge ageism as a key driver of elder abuse.

We have installed 12 large-scale posters of older people from the Geelong region at key venues around our region, which will be available to view from June through to August.

STREETFACE See Me, Respect Me locations include:

• Geelong Library
• Civic Centre car park
• Corio Library
• Ocean Grove Library
• Geelong West Library
• Leisure Link
• Grovedale Hub
• Highton Library
• Belmont Library

Check out our STREETFACE See Me, Respect Me images below.

How you can support our campaign

We all have a role in changing social attitudes by calling out ageism when we see it.

Get involved in our campaign:

• Check out the STREETFACE See Me Respect Me Campaign images and complete this very short survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/STREETFACE-SeeMeRespectMe. Your feedback is vital to help us measure our impact.
• Take the EveryAge Counts Pledge – to call for a world without ageism, where we all feel valued, respected and acknowledged regardless of our age.
• Share our See Me Respect Me Campaign – actively share this information with your networks or colleagues to help them understand the importance of challenging ageism and preventing elder abuse.

Why should we challenge ageism?

Elder abuse is a growing problem in our community

• Almost one in 6 older Australians reported experiencing abuse in the last 12 months
• Elder abuse can take the form of psychological abuse, neglect, financial abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.
• Perpetrators of elder abuse are often family members, mostly adult children, but they can also be friends, neighbours and acquaintances.
• Elder abuse often remains hidden with two thirds of older people reporting that they did not seek help when they are abused
• Family and friends are the most common source of support for older people who experience abuse.

Ageism enables elder abuse

• Ageism and elder abuse are not the same thing, but one creates conditions for the other.
• Everyone should be treated equally no matter their race, gender, or age. And while our community is beginning to recognise the injustices of racism and sexism, the prejudice many of us still don’t see is ageism.
• As we get older, many people start to treat older people as invisible.
• From the way older people are ignored by shop assistants, to the ageist jokes in birthday cards – age based discrimination is surprisingly common. But that doesn’t make it right.
• If we want to create a more equal society, we need to ensure people of all ages are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

If we want to stop elder abuse we must stop ageism

• If we want to end the elder abuse crisis, we need to see older people as whole people.
• Addressing ageism can seem trivial compared to addressing severe elder abuse but we have to understand they are entwined.
• If we want older people and others to report elder abuse, we need to unravel the ageist attitudes that dominate society.
• All people have a right to live free from violence and abuse and to make their own informed choices about their lifestyle and assets
• We all have a role in changing social attitudes by calling out ageism when we see it.

This campaign is an initiative of the Barwon Elder Abuse Primary Prevention Network

To find out more about our work preventing elder abuse in the Barwon region check out our Barwon Elder Abuse Primary Prevention Network homepage.

Acknowledgements and campaign partners

We would like to acknowledge the support of the City of Greater Geelong for enabling us to create this STREETFACE campaign.

Our See Me, Respect Me Campaign is based upon the work of Ballarat Community Health’s See the Person, Respect the Person campaign and we would like to thank them for allowing us to adapt their campaign for our region.