Answer our
quick poll
Working Together, Aging and Disability Groups Can Be a Powerful Force
by Nancy Eustis March 30, 2010
The forum and e-Bulletin for this month focus on disability. I’ve long been interested in the connections between aging and disability because I have studied and taught about aging and because I became disabled in a car accident in early middle age. Traditionally few connections, if any, have existed between younger adults who struggle with long-term disabilities and older adults who become disabled in late life. Younger people with disabilities haven’t wanted to identify with old people. Older adults don’t want to be associated with disability, which, unfortunately, they seem to link with getting ready to die. Interestingly, increasing numbers of persons with early onset disabilities are now living long enough to qualify for aging services.
Nonetheless the disability community and the aging services network share important characteristics. According to the ideology of the disability rights movement, the existence of environmental barriers rather than any one individual’s impairments create dependency. Removing physical and social barriers to living a normal life, not fixing the individual, is the appropriate solution.
This environmental or ecological approach is not new to aging either. For gerontologists, one early concept focused on person-to-environment congruence, which indicates that individuals function best when the environment suits their capabilities. A concrete example of this congruence lies in my choosing to live in an apartment building rather than a townhouse. I can visit my neighbors easily even when snow is on the ground
and nobody comes to shovel my sidewalks. Minnesota’s Communities for a Lifetime legislation encourages community planning, and, I hope removes environmental barriers. The legislation not only will facilitate aging in place, but also will encourage full participation by younger persons with disabilities.
The interests of aging and younger disabled individuals also intersect in the preference for home- and community-based services rather than nursing homes. Younger persons with physical disabilities, individuals
with cognitive or developmental disabilities, and advocates for older adults have mostly acted separately in their advocacy for deinstitutionalization. Some cooperation occurred between aging and disability organizations when drafting the long-term care provisions of the healthcare reform legislation that
President Clinton supported. Subsequently, the George W. Bush administration proclaimed the New Freedom Initiative, and grants became available for Aging and Disability Resource Centers. Minnesota has several.
Joint advocacy for enactment of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act as a part of the recent healthcare legislation represents a new level of cooperation between aging and disability groups. Ninety-six members of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities wrote to President Obama a year ago to urge inclusion of such a program in the efforts to reform healthcare. Ultimately, 158 aging and disability organizations came together to support this provision. When implemented, the CLASS Act, also mentioned in the e-Bulletin in February, provides for a voluntary payroll
deduction to finance long-term care insurance.
I am gratified to see the progress we have made in addressing issues that remove barriers for people with disabilities of all ages and for this recent instance of increased collaboration among aging and disability groups. I think this bodes well for all of us as we enter a time period when our population is rapidly aging.
Comments
qwcwmbc - January 29, 2011
IG3Apg <a href="http://dfvfvqtwahlv.com/">dfvfvqtwahlv</a>, [url=http://kbzatbujzjvg.com/]kbzatbujzjvg[/url], [link=http://oluwnecmyltp.com/]oluwnecmyltp[/link], http://lbkagjuzuxqs.com/
Sharon Anderson - April 01, 2010
Keep these great articles coming!
