Media Releases > Press Articles 2002

Elderly need IT too

Letter in The Australian IT, 4 June 2002 p31
Also published as "Seniors are not cyber phobic", in Sunshine Coast Seniors, June 2002, p15

Australians of all ages, especially mature aged and older people, can and do benefit from assistance and training in becoming computer literate. To dismiss them as cyber phobic is incorrect and discriminatory, especially if linked to funding for IT education and training.

This contradicts claims made by Dimension Data Learning Services general manager Steve Ross, who was reported (Budget skill fund a joke, The Australian IT May 21 p34) as saying mature age training was a waste of money and that they had been "left behind on purpose because they don't like computers".

With its successful IT awareness, education and training programs, and evaluation of others running such courses, the Council on the Ageing has proved that older people both want to and can become computer literate. They develop skills which enable them to use Internet and other IT services to benefit their lives the same as people of other ages.

The whole thrust of business, finance, government and commercial information and service policies is for people to use information technology. It would be discriminatory and possibly illegal to deny mature and older age people support and access to education and training on the grounds that they weren't interested or couldn't cope.

There is already evidence that this discrimination has occurred with mature aged workers seeking assistance. Both employers and government need to reject such attitudes.

The Government needs to concentrate further on funding programs that provide IT skills to mature age workers seeking employment who find that they need computer skills than it has with the recent Budget's $500 per unemployed worker aged over 45 in its IT Skills for Older Workers initiative.

There are simple tips and training techniques to assist mature and older age people in understanding and learning computer skills. No-one says teaching IT is like teaching carpentry. But teaching older people is different from teaching younger people, requiring different skills and preferably separate training classes for different age groups.

Australia needs to make a national commitment to universal access to IT education and use, and back this up with adequate funding and training to enable full participation by Australians of all ages.

COTA has well-developed policy recommendations on technology access for older people and has worked with other organisations to help overcome the digital divide, for example with HREOC and the Australian Bankers' Association in developing electronic standards for banking services. Details are on our website at www.cota.org.au.

Helen Scott
Information Manager
Council on the Ageing (Australia)