Design with ageing communities has a long history. From the Presence project in 2001 documented by William Gaver (2001/2020) to speculative codesign research in design and health, such as the Patient Empowerment Kit by Eva Knutz, Thomas Markussen and Maria Vanessa aus der Wieschen (2020), ageing has preoccupied socially motivated designers. This paper frames socially engaged design as creative approaches that focus on collective change. We compare three approaches to social change that interrupt the stereotypes surrounding ageism: Martinez’s countering of productivist analogies in discourses on ageing, Moline’s exploration of material play and gendered ageism, and Demirbilek’s focus on mainstreaming inclusive and accessible product designs for older populations. We argue that a socially engaged design ethos that celebrates and dignifies the wisdom of old people at a life-stage often marginalised in a youth-centric culture reveals unanticipated insights. From our perspective, key benefits of socially engaged design are the initiation of discussions early in research to garner understanding of what participants want and creative exploration of alternative futures. The paper discusses socially engaged design as a public pedagogy based in community cultural development, codesign and design activism in real world contexts.