Aging and Disability

------------------------------------------------- Associate Program Material

Aging and Disability Worksheet

Part I

Identify 2 or 3 issues faced by the aging population. 1. Health 2. Job security 3. Lack of respect that the youth has on the elderly

Answer the following questions in 100 to 200 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. * What is ageism? How does ageism influence the presence of diversity in society?
Ageism is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person’s age. Ageism influences the presence of diversity in society in negative ways. Ageism is society has a stereotype and is often negative perception of older people. They are being judged on the date of their birth and a battery of ill-informed perceptions that are made about the elderly. People do not know by making a small remark like, “over the hill” and “don’t be an old fuddy duddy.” Both of these comments are considered ageism comments and makes older people upset by the remarks. I know that I have done this numerous times and I would have never known that is considered ageism. (www.diversiton.com)

* What is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)? How does the ADEA address issues for the aging population?
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 forbids employment discrimination against anyone at least 40 years of age in the United States. The bill was signed in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. (Wikipedia.com) The ADEA address the issues for the aging population by taking companies to court to prove that they fired employees for reasons of being old. The ADEA also works the other way. If an older person is hire in a place then younger, this is still discrimination by the ADEA law. Everyone in a work place should have equal rights and be able to advance if they want, no matter the age. Even though the law is there, the elderly people still are struggling with employment problems.

* What is being done to address the issues you identified?
In health care there are not enough things that are being addressed. Health is still the biggest issue that not only the older people struggle with, everyone struggles with it. They have made health insurance so expensive that most people cannot afford to pay for it and our elderly cannot afford to retire because they would not have the health benefits. Job security is being addressed by the laws that have been put in place. By not hiring an older person that is considered age discrimination, if a company gets accused of this they have to appear in court and prove the reason why they fired the employee that does not point at anything to do with the person age.

* Is the number of aging population expected to rise in numbers or decrease?
The population in the United States is expected to increase to 438 million people by 2050. The number of individuals over 65yrs was 39.6 million in 2009. In 2030 the number is going to increase to 72.1.million. So there is going to be an increase. They also say that there will be a decrease as well. They believe there will be a decrease in the working population. The dependency ration of elderly people to working adults is expected to rise from 59 dependents per 100 working adults in 2005 to 72 dependents per 100 working adults. This means that there will be fewer people paying taxes and providing the services to support the older generations.

* What types of legislation may or may not be affected by the aging population?
The key areas of legislation that will be affected by the aging population are pension provision and health care. In both cases the key issue is that the number of people working and paying taxes to fund pensions and health care will decrease while the number of older people making these services rises. It saying that if more people don’t start working and paying their taxes that there will be limited amount of funding for pensions and health care for the elderly. The criminal law is unlikely to be affected by the aging population. The laws will continue to grow as the population continues to grow.

* How does poverty affect the aging population?
Poverty affects the aging population in a negative for most people. Most elderly women are poor and the very elderly women have higher poverty rates. 11.5 percent of women age 65 live below poverty. While senior men live right at poverty. Married women are expected to outlive their spouses, so therefore when the spouses dies the women must then go with the additional sources of income that person brought in. This means the women now will live below poverty. Women above 65 yrs old will be below poverty due to the high rates of health care costs. So poverty in this case would be more towards the women rather than the men in the aging populations. (americanprogress.org)

Part II Answer the following questions in 100 to 200 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. * What does the ADA provide for people with disabilities?
The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities that are like those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex, religion and national origin. It gives equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications. That is what the ADA can do to provide the people with disabilities. Some example of them is employers may not discriminate against a qualified applicant or employee because of their disability. In public accommodations reasonable changes in policies, practices, and procedures must be made to avoid discrimination. Transportation, all new buses order on or after August 26, 1990, must be accessible to individuals with disabilities. These are some examples of what ADA has done. (www2.ed.gov)

* How have people with disabilities been treated in the past?
In the past people with disabilities were treated like they were a type of disease. People did not want to talk or associate with them because they were different. In some countries if you have a disability they would murder you so that your family would not have the burden of taking care of a person with disabilities. People with disabilities would get treated in the cruelest way because people thought they were a disgrace to human kind. Sometimes people with disabilities would get put into intuitions and forgot about so that no one would know that they have a person with needs in their family. This is all just so horrible. It makes me sick that people have to discriminate and treat other different because they have disability that they did not choose to have.

* How has the attitude toward people with disabilities changed over time?
Over time people with disabilities has seen a huge difference in how things were in the past to what it is now. We no longer put people with disabilities in an intuition and forget about them, but now we rather give them a chance to live their own lives and become a productive citizen. The neglect and abuse of people with disabilities has decreased due to better educating society about people with disabilities. People have come a very long way with disabled people compared to how it was in the past. We have made them a great part of our society rather than the outcast of the society. We see them as people not a walking disease.

* What are some unique circumstances or issues encountered by people with disabilities?
People with disabilities rely in a number of federally funded programs in order to live their lives in a community rather than a home or facility. People with a disability have a lot of health care issues that can get very expensive and leave them in high debt. People with disabilities have faced decades of hardship when it comes to their own civil rights. They have also faced many challenges obtaining a quality education. They also have many hardships when trying to get employment. Most people do not like to hire people with disabilities. I have had someone tell me they would not higher me because my back injury could be a liability to their company and they won’t take that risk. (www.thearc.org)

* What is being done to address those issues?
Now days there are many things that are being down to address the issues of people with disabilities. They are making sure that there is enough funding to the people with disabilities to make sure that they can live a normal live in a community. They are trying to make health care more affordable for the low income people, which the people with disabilities will fall under. They have made laws to help with discrimination in the work place so that everyone has a fair chance at getting a job. They help the disabled with programs that help them learn how to do a job. People with disabilities have come a long way, considering how it was in the olden days. They have more rights as a person then they use to.

* What types of legislation have been introduced to address issues faced by people with disabilities?
In 1988, the Fair Housing Act was amended to add people with disabilities and families with children for classes of persons covered. In 1973, the Rehabilitation Act prohibited discrimination against someone with a disability by anyone receiving federal assistance, but it did not cover discrimination by employers, public accommodations in private sector, publicly funded programs or those providing federal financial assistance. The rest of the coverage did not come until the passage of ADA. There are many laws passed now that help people with disabilities live the best they can in the situation that the person may be in. I am glad that there are laws to help people like myself, otherwise I may not get the proper help I need and have to be someone else’s burden as most would call it. ( www.u-s-history.com)