How Fast Are You Aging? Checking Your Biological Clock | The Huffington Post
Although the idea of aging evokes thoughts of the elderly, aging occurs in every stage of life, mysteriously transforming newborns into nanas. Surprisingly, for a universal biological process, the study of aging remains a field in its youth.
Why does a queen bee live for one year and a worker bee for a month?
Why does a catfish live for 60 years and a cat for 20?
Why does a mouse live for 2 years, a bat for 50 and a whale for 200?
Consider $2M: The Cost of Long Term Care For One Aging Parent | Forbes
Every year since 2004, private long term care insurer, Genworth has conducted a national survey to determine the average costs of care at home, and in facilities. The data is broken down by states and one can find the 2017 results here. The bottom line: the cost of care is rising significantly in all the four general areas studied. They include home care, adult day health, assisted living and nursing homes. There is a lot more to consider than what the Genworth study shows. Long term care is not limited to the things this insurer pays for when you buy a product from them.
Senate Dems take series of actions to assist LGBT youth, elders | Washington Blade
Senate Democrats took a series of actions Tuesday seeking to assist the LGBT community — one action for the LGBT youth, two others for LGBT elders — both of which are subgroups that have a history of unique challenges.In a pair of letters dated Nov. 7, U.S. Sens. Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) led 21 senators in calling on the Trump administration to ensure programs designed to combat youth homelessness reach LGBT people and include LGBT elders in health surveys.
EEOC sues staffing company over disability inquiries | Indy Star
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is accusing an Indianapolis temporary staffing agency of asking job applicants unlawful questions about the extent of their disabilities. Strataforce, doing business as Workforce Integration Inc., has been making unlawful inquiries about prospective workers’ disabilities since at least August 2014, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The EEOC brought the complaint under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
2017: The Year the Disability Community Reshaped Progressive Politics | Center for American Progress
Americans with disabilities have always been on the front lines of the fight for civil rights and progressive causes, from education and health care to employment, transportation, and other issues. Leaders such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), and others have all brought a connection to disability into broader movement work. Yet stigma still plays a powerful role in isolating disability in its own silo.
Sex while aging: Embrace the changes | Philadelphia Inquirer
If you are of a certain age, you may have received a catalog that captures the complicated way that sex fits into an aging life. The most recent FeelGoodStore.com print catalog starts out with five pages of comfortable and reasonably fashionable shoes, the sort of product that likely wouldn’t interest inquisitive grandchildren. Then, boom, there’s a two-page, hot pink spread of fancy vibrators — from the “discreet, petite and powerful” Mini Travel Vibe to the $99 G-spot stimulator with “bunny’s ears” that stimulate with “seven levels of escalation.” Then we’re on to prostate stimulators and an enlargement pump.
New tax plan will hinder care for older Americans | The Hill
We believe that the House GOP tax plan disproportionately benefits the wealthy and big corporations. Now it’s evident that older Americans with serious or chronic health conditions will be helping to pay for those tax breaks. That’s because the Republican tax plan eliminates the deduction for medical expenses that nearly 9 million people have used to offset high out-of-pocket costs for care. The ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), labeled the repeal of this tax deduction “anti-senior.”
How Scientists Will Beat Aging in Our Lifetimes | Popular Mechanics
Even in 2017, anti-aging and lifespan-increasing technology still feels futuristic. But this new video from Kurzgesagt presents several technologies close to completion that could make a big impact on how we age.
Aging inmates add to prison costs | Press Republican
New York’s complex of 54 state prison facilities is struggling to hire nurses, doctors and other health-care providers. Filling those vacancies and dealing with an aging prison population at facilities across the state have become among the tallest challenges for the $3 billion correctional system, top administrators concede. In an exclusive interview with CNHI, State Corrections Commissioner Anthony Annucci, who presides over the system, said he is expanding “age-appropriate” programming for older inmates and working toward opening a new dorm that will house 60 senior inmates at Ulster Correctional Facility.
Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish to Step Down | Fortune
Health insurer Anthem’s CEO Joseph Swedish will step down and be succeeded by industry veteran Gail Boudreaux, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. It is unclear how quickly the transition will occur, but the plan is expected to be announced as soon as next week, the publication reported. Anthem was not immediately available for comment.
Let’s Open Up About Addiction and Recovery | The New York Times
San Anselmo, Calif. — Fay Zenoff recently met a friend for dinner at a sushi restaurant in Sausalito, Calif. After they were seated, a waitress asked if they’d like wine with dinner. Her friend ordered sake. Ms. Zenoff declined. “Not for me,” she said. “I’m celebrating 10 years of sobriety this weekend.” Because of the stigma attached to addiction, Ms. Zenoff, who is 50, took a risk speaking so openly. But when she and her friend finished eating, the waitress reappeared. This time she carried ice cream with a candle in it and was accompanied by fellow members of the restaurant staff. They stood beside Ms. Zenoff’s table, singing “Happy Birthday.” The evening, Ms. Zenoff recalled, was “just amazing.”
Jeremy the Dud: the new short film that flips disability on its head | The Guardian
The PC term for Jeremy is “without specialty” but the colloquial slur is “dud”. He wears a lanyard that announces to the rest of the world that he is in the minority – “not special” – in an alternate universe in which disability is the norm. The tag is there to disclose Jeremy’s status to strangers, to make those “with speciality” more comfortable around him. It is meant to help him avoid embarrassing or offensive situations, he says, but in reality it makes him the subject of uninformed assumptions, belittling comments and patronising “well-meaningness” that borders on the absurd.
Survey: nearly half of Americans have a family member or close friend who’s been addicted to drugs | Vox
This is America on a drug addiction epidemic: Nearly half of US adults have a close friend or family member who’s been addicted to drugs. That comes from a Pew survey of US adults conducted in August, which found that 46 percent meet the criteria.
Disability Activists With Chronic Conditions: Alone In The (Political) Wilderness | The Huffington Post
As many people know, I identify as both disabled and chronically ill with chronic pain. When I first found the disability community, I was thrilled to find a world of advocacy where I fit, where I found like-minded people who cared about the same issues as I do. My place in disability advocacy has led to opportunities I couldn’t even dream of. Every day, I get to wake up and go to work on issues that I care about. Although many of the policies and changes I advocate for may never affect me, such as the use of new technologies for blind and low-vision voters, or improving emergency response for people with disabilities affected by hurricanes, I’m thrilled that I get to partake in advocacy that advances our community as a whole. Advocacy isn’t about individual benefit; it’s about achieving advances for your community regardless of whether those changes affect you.
Superfest: disability culture in all of its complexity | SF State News
Annual film festival showcases 15 shorts and full-length features. San Francisco State University has teamed up again with the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to portray disability culture in all its diverse, complex and engaging facets. The 31st annual Superfest, the world’s longest running disability film festival, takes place Nov. 4 at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in Berkeley and Nov. 5 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. SF State’s Paul K. Longmore Institute for Disability, named after the late history professor known as a pioneer in disability studies, is the Superfest co-presenter.
Report: Many 2016 voting sites lacked full disability access | St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Fewer than one in five polling places were fully accessible to voters with disabilities during the 2016 general election, a government report shows — a finding that has prompted federal officials to recommend the Justice Department adopt stricter compliance rules. The report released Thursday by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office comes less than a week before mayoral elections in Atlanta and New York, elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia and a special U.S. House election in Utah, and gives a window of only a year to address problems before the 2018 congressional elections.
Disability Advocates and Professionals Join in San Diego for The Arc’s Annual Convention
This week, The Arc’s National Convention will kick off in San Diego, California with nearly 800 disability advocates, professionals, and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) coming together to learn, forge connections, and energize the disability rights movement. This event will feature a number of exciting speakers, including New York Times bestselling author Deepak Chopra; Executive Producer of A&E’s hit show Born this Way & Chairman of Bunim/Murray Productions Jonathan Murray; and many others. The event will also feature the 2017 Catalyst Awards, where individuals and organizations from across multiple industries will be recognized for their outstanding achievements in promoting inclusion, equality and dignity of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
I care for my aging mother 24/7. Can I get help? | PBS News Hour
Journalist Philip Moeller is here to provide the answers you need on aging and retirement. His weekly column, “Ask Phil,” aims to help older Americans and their families by answering their health care and financial questions
Ground-breaking study shows care barriers faced by LGBTQI+ disabled people | Disability News Service
More than a third of LGBTQI+ disabled people have experienced discrimination or received poor treatment from their personal assistants (PA) because of their sexual identity or gender identity, according to ground-breaking new research. Researchers also found that many LGBTQI+* disabled people who recruit their own PAs had not come out to their personal assistants because they feared discrimination. The research, co-produced by the LGBTQI+ disabled people’s organisation Regard, included a survey of more than 50 LGBTQI+ disabled people in England who control their own support packages, as well as 20 in-depth interviews.
Can we halt aging? Math says ‘no’ | Medical News Today
The quest to slow and ultimately stop aging is as old as human culture. Infinite youth is, quite literally, the Holy Grail. However, according to a recent paper, aging is inevitable and there is nothing that can be done to stop it.
Getting the Flu can Wreak Havoc on Your Finances | CNBC
There’s something even scarier than Halloween ghosts and goblins lurking around the corner: The flu. Every year around this time, the ever-evolving influenza virus begins descending upon the Northern Hemisphere, bringing misery to the millions of Americans who end up suffering from it. On top of the wretched physical symptoms it causes — including fever, chills, muscle aches, cough and fatigue — the cost of getting the flu is generally greater than a dose of prevention.
Research Brief: Medicare Spending on Older Adults Who Need Long-Term Services and Supports
About 13 percent of Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older need LTSS due to an inability to perform two or more activities of daily living or severe cognitive impairment. This need for LTSS is emerging as a defining characteristic of the high-cost, high-need Medicare population. In this new Research Brief, LTQA and Johns Hopkins University researchers analyze the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study survey data lined to Medicare claims, and find that Medicare spends nearly three times as much per capita on the 13 percent of older adults who need LTSS as on the remaining 87 percent of older beneficiaries without such needs. In fact, the need for LTSS remains associated with high Medicare spending even when controlling for other characteristics, such as having chronic conditions or being dually-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. This research suggests that policy efforts to reduce healthcare spending would be enhanced by addressing the needs of the LTSS population, regardless of whether the LTSS is financed by Medicaid, out-of-pocket savings, or provided by unpaid family caregivers.
Disability Awareness Month: Cerebral Palsy Doesn’t Stop Polk State Student from Pursuing Dreams | Polk State College
India Watson was born 12 weeks early, weighing in at only 1 pound, 7 ounces. She spent the first two months of her life in a neonatal intensive care unit, where she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She wouldn’t take her first steps until 5 years old. At age 6, she walked with a limp and suffered from debilitating muscle spasms, which caused her to get Botox injections in her hips and legs at 7.
Sex, Love and the Aging Woman | The New York Times
Denigrating myths about women abound, but one of the most enduring is the myth that aging women must graciously renounce sexual love, leaving it to the young. Let’s look at one work, Richard Strauss’s 1911 comic opera, “Der Rosenkavalier,” that peddles this lie to enduring popular acclaim, and then at a far superior work, Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” which undermines the stereotype and illuminates some special attributes, even advantages, of sexual love between the aging.
What you need to know about the new shingles vaccine | The Washington Post
Barbara Campbell has twice had shingles. Each time, one side of her body was covered in “thousands of these horrid blisters.” She could only wear the lightest silk blouse. Anything else touching her skin hurt too much. “I’m in terror of having it happen again,” said Campbell, 79, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., describing the painful rash that will affect almost 1 out of 3 people in their lifetime. Because of allergies, she couldn’t get the Zostavax vaccine, which is made with live, albeit weakened virus.
Meet the Berkeley Man Who Helped Lead the Disability Rights Movement | KQED
“Hale” is a new short documentary film about Hale Zukas, who helped make Berkeley the birthplace of the disability rights movement. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child. He went on to study Russian and math at UC Berkeley in the 1970s and he helped found Berkeley’s groundbreaking Center for Independent Living, which has become a nationwide model.
CNBC’s Sharon Epperson: Here’s how I avoided financial disaster in my moment of medical disability | CNBC
A year ago, my life changed dramatically. It took a traumatic event — a brain aneurysm to be exact — for me to truly understand how important it is to be financially prepared for the unexpected. A brain aneurysm is a bulge in an artery in the brain, and can appear with no symptoms. When it bursts, like mine did, it’s often fatal. Without warning, I was suddenly disabled, uncertain of whether or when I could ever be able to return to my career (I resumed my position at CNBC at the end of September.)
Gaelynn Lea talks violin, disability rights; but not always at the same time | WXXI News
NPR’s 2016 Tiny Desk Contest Winner Gaelynn Lea is in Rochester this weekend for a performance at Nazareth College Saturday. She never thought she would be a performer full time. Which is a funny thought to come from someone who in the last year had 200 shows in 39 states and 6 different countries. Born with Brittle Bone Disease, Lea is a violin player but also uses the platform she’s been given to talk about disability rights.