The disability system is blocking people like Jaki from their benefits – literally | The Guardian (UK)
If you want a symbol of Britain’s benefit system, Jaki would be it. The 36-year-old spent her 20s in Essex grafting – taking on any job to provide for her four children, even shelf-stacking for 60 hours a week. By 25, she started to get sick – the joint condition Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and the constant pain of fibromyalgia, on top of epilepsy – until she could barely walk.
Too Old To Work, Too Young To Retire? ‘Everyone Just Works Longer’ Isn’t An Easy Fix |Forbes
It’s taken as a given these days: The current state of affairs with respect to Social Security solvency and Americans’ retirement savings rates inevitably means that Americans will have to work longer, whether that’s to the Social Security Full Retirement Age, or to age 70, or even later. But’s it not that simple: workers will need to be healthy enough to continue working, and they’ll need jobs available for them.
Chances of Avoiding Dementia on Rise in U.S. | Scientific American
You’ve turned 65 and exited middle age. What are the chances you’ll develop cognitive impairment or dementia in the years ahead? New research about “cognitive life expectancy”—how long older adults live with good versus declining brain health—shows that after age 65 men and women spend more than a dozen years in good cognitive health, on average. And, over the past decade, that time span has been expanding.
United Spinal to Host Ian Mackay, Washington State Disability Advocate for “Roll on Capitol Hill” in D.C. | Cision
United Spinal Association will host Ian Mackay from Washington State, at its 7th Annual Roll on Capitol Hill, June 24-27 in Washington, D.C., along with other prominent disability advocates, to speak directly with legislators on issues that affect the independence and quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries and disorders and other pre-existing conditions.
How Living Longer Will Impact Your Retirement | U.S. News & World Report
A 65-year-old can expect to live another 19 to 21 years, on average, according to the Social Security Administration. What’s more, the government agency says a quarter of 65-year-olds will hit age 90, and one in 10 will live beyond age 95. Those numbers show a significant improvement in life expectancy over time. In 1960, for instance, a 65-year-old man was only expected to live an average of 13 more years, while a 65-year-old woman had an average remaining life expectancy of 17 years.
Is Your Aging Parent Refusing Help, Even When It’s Obviously Needed? | Forbes
This issue comes up so often at AgingParents.com, that it’s worthy of discussion. The adult children notice that Mom or Dad is “slipping” mentally, and getting more frail. They mention maybe it’s time to get someone in to help out. The kind suggestion is met with flat refusal and sometimes anger. “I’m fine!” the parent says emphatically. Or the well meaning adult children are told to mind their own business, or worse. If the parent has a mean streak, this may bring it out fast. Yet those family members have reason to worry. The parent has physical problems and perhaps cognitive decline to go with them, making the family nervous. It seems that the families with these concerns often have a widowed aging parent who lives alone. What can they do? Can you force someone to get help, they ask?
Meet the Disabled Trans Model Who’s Here to DOMINATE the Fashion World | Them
“My disability is a part of me, but it does not define my whole identity. It does not define my worth, my value, or what I can or cannot do.” If you catch yourself walking down the sultry, sticky streets of Manhattan this summer, don’t be surprised if a literal blonde goddess rolls past you in her wheelchair. 17-year-old Aaron Philip (pronounced A-Ron) who uses both they/them and she/her pronouns, is a disabled, gender-nonconforming, femme model, and she lit up Twitter last November with flawless photos and an instantly iconic tweet: “honestly when i get scouted/discovered by a modeling agency it’s OVER for y’all! By y’all I mean the WORLD! It’s real inclusivity/diversity hours folks, get into it!”
Living healthy, fulfilling lives as Americans age | St. Louis Public Radio
The month of May is designated as Older Americans Month. It also marks the 36th anniversary of the founding of the Oasis Institute – a local organization that aims to meet the needs of aging Americans and keep them engaged by offering learning programs, health education and volunteer opportunities. Marylen Mann founded the organization that serves older adults aged 50 and older. But she said “aging is just a state of mind.”
Aging in Prison | New England Center for investigative Reporting
Long sentences with little or no chance of parole mean prisoners in Massachusetts — locked up for decades — are now getting old and sick behind bars. Massachusetts has one of the highest percentages of aging prisoners in the country, and It’s costing state taxpayers a premium.
To Survive the Trumpocalypse, We Need Wild Disability Justice Dreams | Truth Out
Sick and disabled and neurodivergent folks aren’t supposed to dream, especially if we are queer and Black or Brown — we’re just supposed to be grateful the “normals” let us live. But I am the product of some wild disabled Black and Brown queer revolutionary dreaming, and I am dedicated to dreaming more sick and disabled queer Brown femme dreams in 2018.
Solving China’s Aging Population Problem | Bloomberg
World’s second-largest economy is said to be planning to scrap all limits on the number of children a family can have. Why is China considering lifting its family-size limits? It may be simple math. By 2030, there will be more people age 65 and older than those 14 and younger. And there are signs its aging workforce may already be chipping into gains in productivity, with the increase in China’s output per hours worked at its lowest level since 1999.
Listen to ‘Dear Sugars’: Sex & Aging — With Dr. Pepper Schwartz | New York Times
When two women in their sixties start losing interest in sex, their sex-starved partners become increasingly frustrated. Both women blame old age for their waning libidos. But is their diminished sex drive because of age or something else?
There Are More Millennial Caregivers Than You Think: This Is What They Are Like | Forbes
When we think about family caregivers, we usually picture spouses or 50-something adult children. But, it turns out, about one-third of Americans have helped care for an older loved one by age 40. In some respects, those Millennials resemble older caregivers: They are as likely to underestimate the need for long-term supports and services in old age and they misunderstand who pays for it. At the same time, they are very different: While they spend, on average, less time caring for loved ones and say they have more family support, they are less resilient and feel more stress. This picture is courtesy of a new survey by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago’s NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Funded by the SCAN Foundation, the survey is the sixth in a series that looks at caregiving.
Berkeley disability rights group alleges mental health discrimination by Stanford University | The Daily Californian
A Berkeley-based disability rights advocacy group filed a lawsuit against Stanford University on Friday, alleging discrimination against students with mental health issues. Disability Rights Advocates, or DRA, filed the lawsuit on behalf of three Stanford students and the Stanford Mental Health and Wellness Coalition — composed of more than 20 student organizations on Stanford’s campus — according to a press release. The lawsuit alleges that Stanford discriminates against students with mental health issues by evicting them from campus housing and pressuring them into taking leaves of absence, thereby violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
State wants to show compassion to ill inmates — and save money | The Boston Globe
Beyond the barbed wire of a state prison, down a dirt road marked with “no trespassing” signs, lies a hill dotted with PVC-pipe crosses marking the graves of nearly 90 inmates. The makeshift crosses in this state-owned cemetery bear no names to indicate who lies underneath. The dead include men convicted of murder and sexual assault who were buried over the last quarter-century; some had spent decades behind bars. Each had no families or friends willing or able to collect their bodies, and were buried here by staff and fellow inmates under the eye of the state Department of Correction.
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