Health News Florida
Isolation Increases Florida’s Rural Suicide Rates
Florida’s rural counties are seeing suicide rates for youth almost double that of the state’s large cities. And experts say isolation, poverty, access to firearms and a lack of mental health resources are to blame. — Daylina Miller & Nancy Klingener (Sep. 24)
Kaiser Health News
Seniors Tell Medical Students What They Need from Doctors
Radical technologies around the world may soon overhaul the field of disability and immobility, which affects in some way more than a billion people around the world. — Susan Jaffe (Sep. 25)
Stateline
States Work to Help People with Disabilities Find Work
It’s been 25 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited employment discrimination against people with disabilities. Yet as the nation celebrates the law’s anniversary, a stark divide remains: men and women like Bethke are still less likely to have jobs than people who don’t have a disability. — Susan Jaffe (Sep. 25)
Tech Crunch
Future Transhumanist Tech May Soon Change the Definition of Disability
Radical technologies around the world may soon overhaul the field of disability and immobility, which affects in some way more than a billion people around the world. — Zoltan Istvan (Sep. 14)
The Telegraph
Is It Time to Re-think Autism?
Neurotribes, by the US author and journalist Steve Silberman, has taken five years to write. It started as an investigation into the prevalence of autism within the tech bubble of Silicon Valley, but has evolved into a sprawling and fascinating dissection of the role autism has played in shaping human history. While acknowledging the very real challenges of the condition, Silberman, 57, argues strongly against the notion of autism as some “modern plague”. Instead, he questions who are we to decide which type of minds should be considered as normal? — Joe Shute (Sep. 23)
The Wall Street Journal
Communities Struggle to Care for Elderly, Alone at Home
More elderly across the nation are aging at home for a variety of reasons: they prefer to and are healthy enough to stay; they can’t afford other options such as assisted living; and states in some cases have imposed policies to limit nursing home stays paid for by Medicaid, which is a major funder of long-term institutional health care for older Americans. But aging in place is proving difficult in places where the population is growing older, supportive services are scarce, houses are in disrepair and younger people who can assist have moved away. As a result, elderly people who live at home are having to rely more on neighbors—who sometimes are elderly, too—and local nonprofits and public agencies are starting to feel the strain from increasing requests for help. — Jennifer Levitz (Sep. 25)
Related: The New York Times, “The Fragile Patchwork of Care for New York’s Oldest Old” (Leland, Sep. 25)
The Washington Post
OPINION: The Life-expectancy Gap
We all know that the United States is aging, but probably few of us know how skewed the process is in favor of the middle and upper-middle classes. Among men, life expectancy has improved substantially for the richest 60 percent. But for the poorest 40 percent, gains are tiny or nonexistent. Changes for women reflect similar trends, though less sharp, according to new figures from a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. — Robert J. Samuelson (Sep. 27)
World Economic Forum Agenda
Why People with Disabilities Need to be Included in Disaster Planning
People with disability are twice to four times more likely to be killed or injured in natural disasters than the general population. Deaf people may not hear early warning systems. People who cannot see, who have trouble walking, or who rely on wheeled mobility might find it difficult to flee and find protection. — Michelle Villeneuve (March 13)
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