Mike directs an organization that provides supports to elders, including elders with medical conditions and/or dementia. He spoke about some of the lessons his organization has learned through using an assessment tool (SIP) derived from and influenced by the PASSING tool (Wolfensberger and Thomas, 2007).
Some questions raised by Mike’s presentation include: what are valued and devalued roles specifically for elders in contemporary western culture? And for different age groups (e.g., 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and so on)? How can we identify and heighten the positive aspects of valued roles which an elder currently has?
One of the lessons Mike pointed out was the benefit of elders thinking ahead, and often being helped to think ahead, about where they want to be over the next 10 years, to act and plan now; in SRV concepts, to think about what roles one wants, and what steps of competency enhancement one should engage in now as a way of acquiring or holding onto those roles in the future.
