Older people provide much greater challenges to user-centred design than more traditional user groups. It is also very important to encourage (often young) designers to develop a relationship with, and an empathy for, older users. It is recommended that older users be fully integrated into the design process. Researchers, however, need to take care to be sensitive to the characteristics, sensory and cognitive capabilities, and the attitudes of older people to computers and to being included in research studies. The paper suggests strategies for doing this, together with the more radical approach of using professional actors as surrogates for real older users.