Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing (ISPA)

People experience stigma (linked to negative attitudes, beliefs, and experiences because of a perceived difference) due to certain individual characteristics such as age, disability, or where they live. Older disabled people are more likely to live in poorer areas that carry a certain stigma, in homes not fit for purpose, with increased challenges in accessing support services.

Little is known about how experiences of several stigmas converge and impact upon the way that people are integrated and feel included in their communities and societies. The negative impact of stigma must be examined as it has a detrimental effect on inclusion, creating barriers to accessing services and places. Stigma is also a process that can make certain people less powerful in getting the help needed; this is particularly compounded for disabled people.

This project will examine inequalities and stigma through the experiences of older disabled adults and explore interventions such as home and environmental modifications that encourage inclusive approaches that support people to age well within homes and communities.

The project will focus on older disabled adults (65+) with mobility and sensory impairments but also capture different experiences as everyone is a stakeholder in ageing: Inclusive ageing is not just a 'problem' for or about older people. Furthermore, this project is not just about disabled people. Through engaging with disabled researchers and having representation of disabled people in the academic team and advisory panel it will ensure our research is conducted with disabled people at its heart.

The project will create a new community peer-researcher group of older disabled adults. This group will be trained to carry out research in their communities, such as observation, analysing videos and photographs and keeping reflective diaries. By participants also being researchers, this will increase capacity for disabled people to be integrated into evidence-based solutions.

The research project utilises data that already exists and the collection of new data relating to people's experiences. We will utilise information that has already been gathered in large statistical datasets but re-examine it to understand where different points of identity, including disability, income, age and neighbourhood inequalities, cross and intersect.

The project will also create a new set of sources that will capture a nuanced and detailed account of people's lives using deliberative diaries that give insight to the real-life experiences of people to help understand and tackle barriers to inclusion. This will be done by using a new concept and toolkit called Inclusive Living, which was co-created with housing organisations. However, the existing toolkit is not fully representative of society, and this project will review and modify it to ensure the experiences of disabled people are integrated.

Using the information gathered about people's lived experiences, the project will work with organisations using the newly developed toolkit to make positive changes to increase accessibility for disabled adults with mobility and sensory impairments. This will focus on home and environment modifications, often termed adaptations, and involve confirmed key partners that include housing associations, housing developers, third sector and health and social care organisations. The project has confirmed partnerships with key housing providers to begin this activity, looking to form an Inclusive Living Alliance.

The project will further create resources that will help organisations facilitate change to address barriers that disabled adults have experienced and shared within the project. We will create accessible videos and audio podcasts of lived experiences of stigma to bring the stories shared to life. These resources will then be used to make key policy and practice recommendations aiming to improve inclusivity for disabled people.