University of Phoenix Material

Appendix I
Part I

Define the following terms:

|Term |Definition |
|Ageism |Ageism or age discrimination is stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or |
| |groups because of their age. It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to |
| |justify age based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination. |
|Baby boomer |A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic post-World War II baby boom |
| |between the years 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.[1] The term "baby |
| |boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. |
|Americans with Disabilities Act |The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990[1][2] (ADA) is a law that was enacted by the |
| |U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. |
| |Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009.[ |
|Visitability |Visitability is an international movement to change home construction practices so that |
| |virtually all new homes, whether or not designated for residents who currently have |
| |mobility impairments, offer three specific accessibility features. |
|Accessibility |Accessibility is the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is |
| |available to as many people as possible. |
|Disability |A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, and developmental or |
| |some combination of these. A disability may be present from birth, or occur during a |
| |person's lifetime |
|Inclusion |Inclusion in education is an approach to educating students with special educational |
| |needs. Under the inclusion model, students with special needs spend most or all of their |
| |time with non-disabled students. |
|Deinstitutionalization |Deinstitutionalization is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with |
| |less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with a mental disorder |
| |or developmental disability. |
|Special education |Special education or special needs education is the education of students with special |
| |needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. |

Part II

Identify 2 or 3 issues faced by the aging population.

1. Some Baby Boomers have not saved enough money for retirement. Not having retirement might mean they may have to work later in life then they expected. 2. Employment Concerns being let go because the employers can hirer younger workers for less. 3. Health care coverage for older people

Answer the following questions in 150 to 250 words each:

• What is being done to address the issues you identified? Aging is an inevitable event that all people will have to face at some time in their life. No matter gender, ethnicity, or race, aging affects every individual in different ways as unique as their own personality. As the Baby-Boomer generation begins to reach retirement age, there is becoming an urgent need for expanding the national geriatric medical services. Even though there is an increase in a healthier population of seniors in today’s world, there are still many elderly people with multiple chronic illnesses, ranging from kidney failure to high blood pressure. Many of the illnesses (both major and minor) can be very expensive to treat. Like many other countries around the world, the United States, is in a health care crisis. Maybe the Obama Health plan may help but I don’t think any of us know at this point if it will help or not.

• Is the number of aging population expected to rise in numbers or decrease? According to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5206a2.htm) “The median age of the world's population is increasing because of a decline in fertility and a 20-year increase in the average life span during the second half of the 20th century”. “In the United States, the proportion of the population aged >65 years is projected to increase from 12.4% in 2000 to 19.6% in 2030 (3). The number of persons aged >65 years is expected to increase from approximately 35 million in 2000 to an estimated 71 million in 2030”. The expected growth of the older adult population in the U.S. over the next 50 years will have an unprecedented impact on the U.S. health care system, especially in terms of supply of and demand for health care workers. The population of older adults will grow dramatically over the next 50 years, especially the “oldest old” (those 85 and older).

• What types of legislation may or may not be affected by the aging population? The main areas of legislation which will be affected by the aging population are pension provision and health care. In both cases, the issue is that the number of people working and paying taxes to fund pensions and healthcare will decrease while the number of older people making use of these services rises. Again the supply and demand issue comes into play. There will be a rise in demand for health services and long term care, possibly combined with constrained public spending, creating a challenge for the funding of public services and pensions and increasing pressure on families and friends to support relative retirees.

• How does poverty affect the ageing population? Populations in developing countries are aging due mainly to rapid decreases in fertility and partially to increasing life expectancy. As the population ages, the ratio of dependents to working age adults increases. For older adults, America’s fastest growing population there is a huge problem. The crisis related to older adults who live just above the federal poverty level and therefore are ineligible for many current programs that target the very poor. Increased health care costs, longer life expectancies, soured retirement accounts, and decreased property values are hitting the nation’s older adult population extremely hard. My grandmother has this problem now. Because she has $3,000 in her savings account she is ineligible for Medicaid. She would have to spend all of that down in order to become eligible for help. Do we think this is fair or is this just the way it is?

Part III

Answer the following questions in 150 to 250 words each:

• How have people with disabilities been treated in the past? People in the past treated people with disabilities as if they were a burden to society. They aren't called sinners, demons, retards, or thrown into lifetime long institutions to keep them away from “Normal People”. They are given more options with treatments and slowly but surely their employment and educational choices are growing. However, they are still treated like social pririahs by peers and sometimes the very institutions that claim to be helping them. And they still (many of them) have to depend on SSI or disability due to employment biases that still go on but there's more of a push to improve their chances of working and even moving up in socio-economic status and not just throw all of them in vocational rehab or dead end jobs.

• How has the attitude toward people with disabilities changed over time? These days people with disabilities can be placed in group homes and residential treatment programs for today's society. Family also takes care of their disabled children, adult children or grandparents more often these days than ever before. The disabled are given a chance to live on their own and become productive citizens. I think that America as a whole has also been educated more on what different kinds of disabilities mean, which in turn has made us a smarter society to address discrimination of the disabled. I don’t think society looks down on the disabled anymore but they might feel sorry for them and want to help more than before. There are a lot of organizations that specialize in different disabilities and with the internet most of the families have more help at their fingertips.

• What are some unique circumstances or issues encountered by people with disabilities? Disability places a set of extra demands or challenges on the family and the disabled. There is the financial burden associated with getting health, education, and social services; buying or renting equipment and devices; making accommodations to the home; transportation; and medications and special food. Sometimes many of these financial items, the person or family may be eligible for payment or reimbursement from an insurance company and or a publicly funded program such as Medicaid or SSI. Also finding out about all this information is another challenge faced by families. There are a lot of problems with our current system but it is still better then what it use to be but we still have far to go.

• What is being done to address those issues? The government has stepped in to help with SSI and Medicaid but it still isn’t enough for most of these disabled people. They still must lean on family or friends for help. There are also organizations to help but a lot people with disabilities can be too embarrassed to use these programs. It also depends on the type of disability and how extreme it is. There are still employers these days that will not hire disabled people because they do not want to alter their work place for someone. So I think there is a lot more to do that isn’t being done.

• What types of legislation have been introduced to address issues faced by people with disabilities? On January 23, 1990, the 101st Congress passed the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990" (ADA), which was then signed by President George Bush. It established comprehensive protection for people with a variety of disabilities in many aspects of public life. Before that was in 1988, the Fair Housing Act was amended to add people with disabilities and families with children for the classes of persons covered. Then 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 the private sector, publicly funded programs or those providing federal financial assistance. I know there will be more to come.