Aging and Disability Worksheet

Ageism is a form of discrimination. Ageism is the discrimination of a person, or group of people based on their age (dictionary.com, 2016). Note that this can be discrimination of any age group, however for this essay, it will be used in the context of discrimination of the elderly population. The elderly population accounts for 50% of hospital stays, 70% of home health services and 90% of residents in aged care homes where a further 90% of residents fall victim to and experience ageism throughout their stay (Fitzpatrick & Kazer, 2012). The elderly account for such a large proportion of the population using healthcare services, therefore, in turn, is the reason for a large percentage of a number of jobs existing in healthcare. As well as being the reason for providing a large amount of healthcare jobs, the majority of aged people continue to

For all responses to each assignment, provide the rationale for your answers and any assumptions that you are making.

In a response of no less than two paragraphs, respond to each of the following questions.

Age discrimination has long been present in society due to the rapid development happening around us. According to Farney, Aday & Breault (2006), this era of ageism is defined as "discrimination against any age group", but it often is pointed to age discrimination among adults which is slowly causing a negative effect for them in the workplace. In the workplace, adults with more experience and longer history behind them are targets of this ageism belief that companies and employers tend to have (Farney, Aday, & Breault, 2006). They are shunned and even fired in favor of accepting new and fresh faces for the company they have worked for. Unknown to most companies and employers, this notion of favoring the young and banishing the old can

The Older adult population needs more health services and mobility resources from the government and private or community organizations due to their emerging and increasing healthcare needs. This attention to the older adult population reduces the chances of them being isolated, mistreated, and experiencing poor health. Two of the most influential laws that impact the older adult population are the Social Security Act Title XVIII and The Older Americans Act of 1965. These two pieces of legislation provide our elderly community with some form of financial stability and the ability to get around their community.

There are 17% of older adults still in the labor force, while 36% of older adults have a disability. 28% of the US populations are older adults living on their own and 79% of the U.S. population are older adults that own their own homes. The older adult population in the United States has significantly increased over the last several years and will continue to increase. There are more older adults than older men. In 2005 the older adult population as a whole was at 36.6 million and the most recent statistics in 2015 shows that the older adult population was at 47.8 million. The number of older adults could increase to 98 million by 2060. The average age of the older adults has greatly increased since the 1900s. In 2015 22% of the older adult population were of racial or ethnic minority. According to the most recent data taken (2015), if someone was born in 2015, they could expect to live around 30 years longer than someone who was born in the 1900s. Why is this? The number of death rates for both children and adults has seen a great reduction. There were also a lower number of babies born in the 1900s due to the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Most elderly people are retired and have a small amount of money to live on each month, so they can’t afford a car or the insurance to have on it. Also in the cities there is sometimes no room for a car so elderly people have to get around on

As I was reading through the assigned chapters this week, I was really interested when Berger (2011) brought up the topic of ageism. She defines this concept as “a prejudice whereby people are categorized and judged solely on the basis of their chronological age” (Berger, 2011, p. 640). While this prejudice can be focused at any age group, I feel as though ageism directed at people in their late adulthood can be extremely detrimental to their mental and physical health. Not only can it result in feelings of incompetence and low self-esteem, it can limit their work opportunities and can prevent “depressed elderly people from seeking health” (Berger, 2011, p. 642) which can lead to suicide.

With the continual increase in the elder population, whether or not an aging population is beneficial to society has become widely debatable. While many believe that this top-heavy type of population distribution poses a colossal obstacle in terms of economic development in the long run, others maintain that it is a testament to the development of a society. Given that a high proportion of elderly citizens puts immense pressure on the working force and would be a burden on the healthcare system, I firmly believe that the ever-increasing population of elders predominantly brings negative effects.

Ageism has been around for a while, the assumption that older people are not up to standards of a younger workers. Older job hunters have reported age discrimination as early as the 1930s. Societies bias of hiring an older person. Ageism has ran rampant in corporate America also coined as “The Gray Ceiling”, an invisible stigma

Ageism, or age discrimination, is a problem that is extremely pervasive in the workplace, spanning from retail to even corporate environments. Ageism has existed for a long time and is still affecting businesses today. Even though there are laws set up to prevent this from happening, most businesses are smart enough to find loopholes in order to continually practice age discrimination. One huge reason for this is that many businesses know they can pay younger and less-experienced workers less. However, this is not to say that older people do not experience age discrimination as well. The government can pass whatever law it wants to attempt to forbid such acts, it lies in the nature of human beings to be ageist, per se.

The solutions to some of the problems which persist and violate the liberty and the dignity of some residence are represented by these laws. These laws can and should be changed. In far too many cases the elderly have had to endure physical and emotional abuses; unlawful threats of evictions; neglect and substandard care; and poor dietary and nutritional subsistence. Along with the federal laws which need to be amended the increased frequency of monitoring and unannounced inspections must be increased to verify compliance with the laws.

Please write on two of the following four questions (450-600 words), each worth 35 points:

In relation to the above task, answer each of the following questions in no more than 50 words.

3. Provide short answers (in one to two paragraphs) to the following questions [Part A, 20+40 = 60 marks]