“Use Your Power as an Ally”: How a Special Interest Group Uses Allyship to Challenge Ageism in Social Work

Being an ally has become an increasingly used term by people who wish to bring about change and support marginalized groups. Allyship corresponds closely to social work values around advocacy, social inclusion and promoting equality. Allyship is frequently highlighted and explored in relation to non-white and other minority groups, however older people have largely remained invisible within these debates. This is despite ageism, discrimination and inequality in later life being widely documented. The paper presents a Special Interest Group on Social Work and Ageing as an example of social workers undertaking effective and social justice allyship with older people. This includes challenging ageism, promoting research informed practice and shaping expert informed policy. The voices and experiences of older people and practitioners will be shared through charting the development of the group and the activity that it is undertaking. The group grew out of a research project on Social Work with Older People and includes members from the project’s Expert Advisory Group. Use your power as an ally was a call for action from older people involved in the research project. The challenges and barriers that practitioners may face when undertaking allyship are also explored.