Abstract
The present article intends to illustrate a dissertation project focussing on the living experiences of people in the so-called third and fourth age, with particular regard to people with lifelong intellectual disabilities who enter old age. The sustaining assumption is that social participation of senior citizens and of people with disabilities is both meaningful at an individual level, and offers great treasure for every community in terms of social capital and social cohesion. Against this background, the overall aim is to explore participation experiences in old age by deploying a participative action research approach, which encompasses the direct involvement of social groups who still appear to remain underrepresented in social research. The outcomes of this study are expected to offer new insights in the lived realities of elderly people, with particular attention to the peculiar experiences at the intersection of lifelong intellectual disabilities, age and gender. Further, the project aims to reveal related crucial mandates arising for social work practice and social policy