What does it feel like to grow old? This sensory kit shows you

An aging simulation kit — developed by the franchise owners of Home Instead Senior Care in Tecumseh — helps caregivers understand what it feels like to live with sensory loss associated with growing old.

Colleen Jershy, one of the individuals behind the kit, said she's been doing this exercise with caregivers for years, but has now made the kit public for everyone to try.

She adds it was designed to help to create awareness and build empathy toward seniors living with sensory impairment.

"If you can't see very well, you may not want to go out. If you can't hear very well, you may not want to engage in social settings where people are having conversations," Jershy said.

Richard Lie Brock, 74, has impaired vision and hearing. He says living with sensory loss is frustrating.

"It's something that happens to you that you have no control over," he said.

"I like to read and I find it difficult to focus on the page for a length of time. For hearing ... you feel like you're bothering them or infringing on them. A lot of people say what they [have to] say and they don't want to say it a second time."

Brock said people would benefit from these kits to better understand what people like him go through, but doubts many would go out of their way to try it out.

For Jershy, it's important to put people "in our older loved ones' shoes to understand why this may be happening and to see what we can do."

"How can we make their quality of life better? How can we make surroundings, and the places they visit  and the places they go to a lot more adaptable and enjoyable, so they don't self-isolate themselves and really helping them not become depressed and lonely."

People can pick up a kit, which includes gloves, glasses, ear plugs and a pill bottle, from Home Instead Senior Care's Tecumseh office. Kits can also be made at home using similar materials.