November 2026

Bringing awareness and resources to over 373 people and counting across Wisconsin! 

“Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.” – Richard Bach

Learning Opportunities

We are so happy to share that Wisconsin will be working with the National Center to Reframe Aging to provide additional training through the end of 2026 and through 2027! Ageism and ableism affect us all and learning about evidence-based communication to advance a more accurate story of aging and disability benefits all of us. If you have yet to attend an introductory session or want a refresher, please consider spending an hour to understand reframing. All are welcome for this FREE training!

A Generation’s Work: Introduction to Reframing Aging

• This one-hour virtual presentation introduces evidence-based communication strategies to reframe aging and demonstrates how changing the narrative about aging transforms support for people across the lifespan.
• December 2, 2026, at 3 - 4 pm
• Register

Watch the Champion’s Newsletter for more reframing training opportunities!

Wisconsin Reframing Wins (of all sizes)!

Here’s another way to make a small impact. You know, they all add up!

For some strange reason, I was looking up information about Joseph P. Kennedy II and when I opened the Wikipedia page, there was that word again. Then I remembered it’s possible to edit Wikipedia pages!

Wikipedia Joseph P. Kennedy II

Early career

Before: In 1979, Kennedy founded Citizens Energy Corporation, a nonprofit organization to provide discounted heating oil to low-income and elderly families in Massachusetts.[1]

After: In 1979, Kennedy founded Citizens Energy Corporation, a nonprofit organization to provide discounted heating oil to low-income families and older adults in Massachusetts.[1]

It literally took two minutes. Give it a try and let me know how you were able to improve Wikipedia’s framing of older adults and people with disabilities (Helen.Sampson@dhs.wisconsin.gov)!

Let’s have some fun fixing Wikipedia together and measure our impact!

Champion's Spotlight "What's your Why?"

I am committed to Reframing Aging and Disability because I believe how we talk about things shapes how we see the world, how we understand one another, and whose experiences we value. When we use deficit-based language, we reinforce harmful stereotypes and create barriers that prevent our communities from benefiting from the contributions of all their members. Being part of the movement to reframe aging and disability, I have learned we can all make small changes that help shift our society toward honoring the dignity and recognizing the full humanity of disabled people and older adults.

Kaitlin McNamara

Community Outreach Specialist

Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities 

A more accurate and balanced story of aging and disability...

1. Leave Room to Be Surprised - Four stories about ageing, belonging and the possibilities we overlook," Jane Barratt, The Arc of Ageing, October 14, 2026

"I spend a lot of time writing about what goes wrong in later life. The corridors, the trolleys, the people found too late. Those stories need to be told, and I will keep doing it.

But if the only stories we tell about ageing are stories of failure, we start to believe that is all ageing is. A problem to be managed. A cost to be contained. A queue.

This week, I want to tell some different stories. Some began years ago. What they reveal about people and possibility still holds." 

Go here -> https://janebarratt.substack.com/p/leave-room-to-be-surprised?

2. Advocating for Students with Disabilities: Strategic Framing Insights



FrameWorks produces leading research and resources on Child Development, Health, Economic Justice, Government and Democracy, Racial Justice, Aging, and more. Their research offers a unique perspective on how people think about social issues—and how we can tell stories that advance justice in our world. Specifically, FrameWorks provided research that serves as the foundation for the communication strategies taught by the National Center to Reframe Aging.

Check out the guide they developed, “Advocating for Students with Disabilities: Strategic Framing Insights”, which is intended to equip school leaders and advocates with communication strategies to promote classroom climates that fully and fairly include students with disabilities. 

We're all in this together!

1. Calling All FRAMERS! The Community of Practice is here for mutual support!

• 4th Wednesday of the month from 2 – 3 pm
• The community of practice is a safe place for support, advice and to practice reframing. Do you have a document, PowerPoint, speech, etc. you are working on and want to get some input for age- and-disability productive framing? 
• Some people attend regularly. Others just come when they want advice or to listen. We are all learning together! 
• Please reach out to Jenna Sturgis (jenna.sturgis@dhs.wisconsin.gov) or Helen Sampson (helen.sampson@dhs.wisconsin.gov) if interested in attending the community of practice or if you have a reframe to share!

2. Noticing! We need to be able to see “it” before we can change “it”.

Choose an Answer

17 years or under

18-23

24-32

33-40

41-49

50-59

60 or older

In this section we share some examples of those perhaps unintentional but none-the-less ageist and ableist messages that surround us.

I was recently asked to complete a leadership survey and was struck by the demographic age ranges from which I was asked to choose.

For one, the survey could reflect the notion that diversity exists only between the ages of 0 and 59 and people 60+ (and <17) are pretty much the same.

The groups between 18 and 59 are broken into 6, 8, and 9-year spans. The U.S. centenarian (age 100+) population is projected to quadruple over the next 30 years (Pew Research Center). Between 60 and 100 there is a 40-year span, four times as long as any other age segment listed in the survey.

It is also possible that the structure of these age ranges reflects the idea that anyone much over 60 is unlikely to be completing a leadership survey.



What are your thoughts? What are you noticing?

If you want to go fast, go alone.

If you want to go far, go together.

-African Proverb

Questions? Contact Helen Sampson, Public Policy Strategist with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Frame on! From the Reframing Project Management Team,



Carrie Molke, Bureau of Aging and Disability Resources (BADR); Jill Renken, Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging (WIHA); Helen Sampson, BADR; Amber Mullet, BADR; Jenna Sturgis, BADR; Emily Petersen and Donna Rosner, Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources (GWAAR)