MIRA One Topic, Two Disciplines: Precarity & Aging
Michelle Wyndham West (Adjunct Assistant Professor, Health, Aging and Society, McMaster University, and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Design and Graduate Program Director of the MDes programs in Design for Health and Inclusive Design, OCAD University) will discuss her work with low-income older adults’ and their experiences of aging, precariousness and housing instability/homelessness in Hamilton. These experiences were collected via multi-modal, arts-based touchpoints: photos, videos and written diaries, as well as interviews and community-based participant observation, illustrating how arts-based approaches provide openings for low-income older adults to communicate their housing pathways, needs and aspirations.
Courtney Kennedy (Clinical Scientist, GERAS Centre for Aging Research and Occupational Therapist, Hospital 2 Home, Hamilton Health Sciences; Assistant Professor, Geriatric Medicine, McMaster University) will discuss community-based interventions in a clinical context, at the transition point from hospital to home, for older adults in precarious situations, as well as community initiatives and interventions that may prevent vulnerable older adults from entering precarious situations.
Special guest speaker David Reycraft (Director of Housing Services, Dixon Hall) will provide an intersectoral perspective on the topic. David has served Dixon Hall’s diverse community for 15 years to create pathways to appropriate, safe and stable housing; he will be speaking about the unique challenges faced by seniors with long histories of homelessness.
MIRA’s One Topic, Two Disciplines seminar series brings together researchers with different expertise on a single topic in aging. These seminars explore pressing challenges in aging research and interdisciplinary approaches to solving them.