What Do You Mean, I Can Retire?

1. What Do You Mean, I Can Retire? Aging and End of Life Teleconference Series presented by the National AAMR Speaker: Catherine J. Rush Cleveland, Ohio September 27, 2006

2. History of this generation: • Persons with ID who are now aging: • Were often not allowed to go to school • Were often either institutionalized or kept at home/hidden and “unsocialized” • Were later provided opportunities to go to work, often in sheltered environments • Are now living to be seniors and not being prepared for retirement either financially, emotionally, or mentally.

3. Options for Retirement: • Continuum of services in a sheltered environment: • In House programs: training and participating in social and recreational activities that will enhance skills to be used in the community. • Generic community activities: not necessarily senior focused programs but options in the community for socialization, exposure to the community. (shopping, picnics, hikes, nature)

4. Options for Retirement: • Continuum of services in a sheltered environment: (continued) • Supervised Senior Activities: staff, volunteer or buddy accompany senior to a senior activity such as a dance, BINGO, or travelogue. • Independent Senior Activity: same as above without staff or volunteer supervision.

5. Community Options • Volunteer opportunities: churches, organized volunteer organizations such as RSVP, Volunteers of America, soup kitchens, animal shelters. • Vocational: when available, offer part time work, part time alternative option if the person wishes to continue working or needs to earn money.

6. Community Options (cont.) • Senior Centers: most require a person to be • Independent in ADL’s, socially interactive, and over 60 years of age. These are drop in centers and little to no supervision is available unless someone is willing to be a buddy. • Some offer their own transportation, some require a minimal meal donation amount (ie: $1), and most require an application for proof of residency.

7. Other community options: • Adult Day Centers: (aka: Adult Day Care) • Designed and created for older persons who can no longer be at home without supervision and are not in need of nursing home level of care. • One of the best kept secrets in the senior world. • Provide supervision, hot meal, social, recreational, leisure and medical opportunities. • Many provide transportation and all have a cost involved. • Requires a person to not be a threat to self or others

8. Other community options: • Adult Day Centers: (cont.) • Because of the Baby Boomer generation, many are going to a Club model providing the same supervision, etc., but adding service projects to their repertoire of activities which may include outside entertainment, crafts, games, Olympics, mental stimulation activities, exercise and so forth.

9. Barriers faced: • Fear: the general population of elderly are fearful of persons with ID as they grew up with this population being locked up or hidden. • Apathy: many people do not care about having a relationship with persons with ID as they perceive they cannot offer anything in return for a relationship. • Stigma: many people see persons with ID as lower class citizens and will not associate with them

10. How to make it happen: • For the community: • Cross training with the senior community and create collaborative relationships (WIIFM: what can we do for the community? Offer training, support, guidance, enlighten them, disability awareness, and ask for training on aging). • Offer to visit each other’s sites

11. How to make it happen: • For the community: (cont.) • Develop a relationship of trust and reciprocal support: have a person with ID do some volunteer work. This will demonstrate that persons with ID have abilities and take focus off the disabilities. • Develop other community options for retirement such as the volunteering option in other settings as previously mentioned.

12. How to make it happen: • For the person with ID: • Prepare them for retirement via: • For those of higher abilities, begin at age 50 to make retirement talk part of the normal life span, encourage choice making which is one of the main problems with older persons with ID • For those with more diminished abilities, begin to give them tours of facilities where one can retire and transition them into the setting. • Goals for skill development should focus on choice making

13. Do’s & Don’ts of Community Integration: The 10 Steps of Successful Integration: • Treat the person with ID as you would treat any other participant. • If there are questions, ask the person to help you understand • Seek the support, help, advice, guidance of person’s care provider/main contact. • Get to know the person-their interests, likes, dislikes, history, dreams… • Off the person the opportunity to serve others if they are able and willing.

14. Do’s & Don’ts of Community Integration: The 10 Steps of Successful Integration: • Give the person the opportunity to be a “star” in some activity. • Focus on what the person can do rather than what they can’t do. • Invite the person to attend a special occasion outside the usual activity (ie: annual picnic) • Introduce the person to others in the group • If possible, ask another participant to be a buddy to the person with ID.

15. Do’s & Don’ts of Community Integration: What Not to do in Integrating Persons with ID • Don’t allow the care provider/staff to force more than one or two persons to start at the same time. • Don’t provide a special room or place for the person with ID (don’t segregate) • Don’t introduce them as a person with ID • Don’t talk to them as children or ignore them, talking only through their care provider • Don’t feel sorry for them because they have ID or allow behaviors that would typically not be allowed by others.

16. TRIUMPHS: • For years I have seen persons with ID: • Start a real life in their senior years • Rise to the occasion of becoming a senior and making friends with non-disabled peers • Begin to offer themselves as a servant to the society that has served them all their life. • State that they didn’t know they could retire and live happily ever after!!!