Now Six Useful Resources to Assist with Aging in Place.

Aging in one’s own home is a dream of many people. Photo from SFGate.

And at the bottom of this blog, please see links to past blogs about aging, senior workers and continuing careers!

NOTE: added June, 2023 – A resource for seniors on Fall Prevention

NOTE: Update April, 2022 – An online resource with many helpful practical actions: “Home Security – Keeping Seniors Safe at Home.”

NOTE: Update September, 2019 – a 5th resource added to this blog, “Making the World Safer for Senior Citizens – An Injury Prevention Guide” from Seniorliving.org.

As a diversity and career development consultant with an active blog (average 3 posts per month for over seven years!), people in the community often discover my blog and then send me information to assist one or more diverse constituencies.

Last month I included a blog with social security benefits information for same-gender married couples (link) since that is brand new to many people in the USA. And this month, I am providing four useful resources graciously provided by publichealthlibrary.org to assist seniors who may be starting to experience physical challenges to remain in their homes longer. The publichealthlibrary.org is “a project by some premedical students who love the opportunity to geek out with medicine and technology while serving the community.”

Aging in place is a dream for many seniors. Of course, the older we get, the more likely we are to be living with some form of a physical disability, meaning our homes will likely need some changes in order to allow us to remain there for as long as possible.

But don’t worry: publichealthlibrary.org has compiled a great list of helpful resources with links that will help you understand how to assess your needs as a disabled senior, and create a financial plan and make modifications accordingly.

Guide to Room-by-Room Repairs for Easy Accessibility for Disabled Loved Ones. This handy guide will help you make an accessibility plan for your bathrooms, kitchen and yard – three of the most treacherous places for individuals with disabilities.

A ramp like this one is included in the several items suggested by retirementliving.com

11 Low-Cost Aging in Place Modifications You Can Do Yourself. Fortunately, not every safety upgrade requires an arm and a leg, and many can be done DIY!

• Senior’s Guide to Paying for At-Home Long-Term Care: How Your Home Can be a Great Asset. Your home can actually be a great tool for paying for any needed accessibility modifications – without having to sell it! This guide offers seniors ideas for funding options their home can provide to pay for both minor and major updates.

How to Make & Pay for Home Modifications to Enable Aging in Place. In addition to your actual home, there are more options than you might be aware of to fund safety upgrades. This guide offers lots of helpful tips and links to other resources for helping you fund your home modifications.

This list only scratches the surface of this topic, of course, and as an advocate for people of all ages with disabilities, we’re here to help. If you have questions on how to make your home a safe space for your Golden Years, please feel free to further explore publichealthlibrary.org

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Links to blogs I wrote earlier about aging with a focus on the workplace:

Three parts series and aging in the workplace:
Part 1 – The Diversity of Aging – General Life and Workplace Overview.
Part 2 – Aging and intersection with LGBT
Part 3 – Aging and considerations for the workplace.

Five Tips and Best Practices for Engaging Senior Talent Through Job Sharing – Part 1 and Part 2

Village Hearth – an innovation in LGBTA senior living!

An excellent resource (and writer): Cerebral Palsy Guidance and Alex Diaz-Granados

Alex Diaz-Granados, Miami-based freelance writer, online reviewer, aspiring novelist and regular contributor to Cerebral Palsy Guidance

Alex Diaz-Granados, Miami-based freelance writer, online reviewer, aspiring novelist and regular contributor to Cerebral Palsy Guidance

Added Sept. 2023 – an excellent resource (link) on cerebral palsy from the Birth Injury Center.

As a career development and diversity (all areas but with an LGBT – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) deep expertise, I often get community contacts via people who discover my website and blog. One particular recent fascinating contact is Alex Diaz-Granados, a writer for the website “Cerebral Palsy Guidance.” Since “people with disabilities” is one the critical diversity constituencies in need to more full inclusion, I discussed cerebral palsy, including its intersection with the LGBT community, with Alex.

STAN: Alex, can you give me a brief description of what Cerebral Palsy Guidance is about?
ALEX: Cerebral Palsy Guidance (CPG) is a website that provides information about cerebral palsy (CP), a disability that affects approximately 764,000 children and the adults in the U.S. alone. CPG was created primarily as a resource for parents of children with CP to give them information about the disability, what treatments are available, what kinds of medical and legal assistance exist, and to dispel some of the myths that surround CP. That having been said, though, we also want to reach the general public and increase awareness about cerebral palsy, which is the most common movement disorder that affects kids.

 

STAN: Wow, 764,000 people affected is a huge number! Alex, Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got involved in this work?
ALEX: Well, I’m a Miami-based freelance writer, online reviewer, and aspiring novelist – and I happen to have cerebral palsy. I was a preemie, and I acquired CP shortly after birth when a nurse placed me in an incubator – and took a bit too long to turn on the oxygen supply. It was only a momentary lapse, but thus, there was some damage in the motor control region of my brain. Luckily, I fell in love with the written word as a young boy, and I decided that I’d be a writer when I was 14.

As to how I got involved with CPG: I was asked to write a blog for the site in January of 2016. I was writing movie and book reviews for the now-closed Examiner.com at the time, plus I was gearing up to start writing my first novel. But CPG’s chief writer, Leigh Egan, emailed me not long after the New Year and asked me if I would like to be a regular blogger and share with readers what it’s like to live with CP. I’m not a researcher or a legal expert, mind you, but I do know about the challenges of daily existence as a disabled person in 21st Century America. So, I said “yes,” and here we are.

 

STAN: Alex, could you tell me more about the intersectionality of Cerebral Palsy with being LGB or T? Why is this important to discuss?
ALEX: I’m not LGB or T, but some of my friends are, so I am aware of the challenges they face today. I can identify with the LGBT community’s struggles to gain acceptance in a society where some people still believe that sexual orientation is an anomalous “lifestyle” or “choice” rather than an innate trait. People with CP, whether they’re gay or straight, are still sometimes looked upon as freaks or “damaged” individuals who should be shunned. Disabled people, of course, aren’t vilified or – as in the Pulse shooting in Orlando – targeted by zealots as LGB and T people are, but we still face discrimination and mockery. Look at that disabled New York Times reporter that President-elect Donald Trump made fun of during the campaign. Trump scornfully mimicked his physical disability because he didn’t like the man’s reporting or his probing questions! So for me, the intersectionality of individuals with CP and the LGBT community isn’t about sexual orientation. It’s about human rights.

 

Alex Diaz-Granados (second from the left) enjoys a dinner party for a close friend

Alex Diaz-Granados (second from the left) enjoys a dinner party for a close friend

STAN: What can allies do to educate themselves about the Cerebral Palsy / LGBT intersection and what actions can they take?
ALEX: I think that dialogue and participative interaction is the best way for people to understand each other. I’m not sure that disabled people in general have a negative worldview about the LGBT community – some people with CP are LGB or T, too. Maybe a small percentage of individuals with CP may have some prejudices about gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender persons, mostly because of their religious upbringing, but others, especially millennials, are more accepting. But by and large I think both groups (disabled and LGBT) get along well.

 

STAN: How can people learn more?
ALEX: If anyone wants more information about cerebral palsy, its causes, treatments, and what resources are available, there is Cerebral Palsy Guidance. CPG is one of the best sites on the Web, with well-written and researched articles by a dedicated staff. You can find it at https://www.cerebralpalsyguidance.com/

 

STAN: Thank you for the insights, Alex. Keep up your great work and I look forward to staying in touch and seeing your first novel.

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NOTE: FYI – here is a link to Alex’s LinkedIn Profile to learn more about him.