‘How to Catch Ageism’ Series – No 2: Laughter

Flourishing Lives, the Flourishing Lives Advisory Group (FLAG), Dave Martin and Hannah McDowall of Canopy invite you to our free online workshop.

If you google ‘the benefits of laughing’ you are in for a treat because the list is enormous: a natural stress reliever, mood booster, and relationship builder.

Honestly, this is some seriously good medicine. But what about laughing at ageing? We’ve all seen the birthday cards and we’ve probably heard jokes which ridicule changes in the body and mind associated with later life. Are these the kind of medicine we need, or do they have a dark underbelly; reinforcing ageist stereotypes and nourishing internalised ageism?

In this workshop we will ask ourselves:

• What is happening to us when we laugh at ageist jokes? Are we relieving stress and bonding with our peers or are we colluding with an ageist norm?
• Who are ageist jokes really serving?
• Is an ageist joke, ‘just a joke’?
• How can we laugh about ageing in a way which gives us all the benefits but doesn’t reinforce the negative stereotypes?

During our time together we will explore some ageist humour together and try to get under the skin of what it’s up to in the world and in our psyches, good and bad.

We know from experience that this can be a contentious topic! So we invite folks of all ages and all opinions but we do ask that you only come if you are able to respect and be gentle with those who hold opposite opinions to yours.

Join us for an interactive experience where we’ll have fun exploring ageism, ageing and laughter.

(Please note: you do not need to have attended part one in our 'How to Catch Ageism' workshop series to join or benefit from this session - everyone is welcome!)

About Dave Martin and Hannah McDowall
Since 2013 Dave and Hannah have worked to create experiences, artworks and coalitions, which help us to disrupt current approaches to ageing. These ‘disruptions’ fall into 3 broad themes

1. Life course thinking and intergenerational connectivity

2. Transitions thinking not Age thinking

3. Exposing the ageist attitudes we hold against ourselves and others

Canopy is a not for profit organisation who work with communities, organisations and ecosystems to design and facilitate collective imagination projects which nurture belonging, courage and hope.

Canopy was set up to grow the social imagination. We believe that without new and shared imaginations our society will stay stuck in its current destructive and unequal patterns. We know that all of us are deeply imaginative, but society is not set up to support us to imagine together. The result is that we’re always building the future based on imaginations that are incomplete, one-sided and disconnected. This is what we seek to change. We seek to create the conditions for new shared imagining, new stories and new action for a better world.