Impact of age on relationships and community participation
Although many of the later life social concerns of older individuals with ID/DD may be similar to those of the overall ID/DD population, older individuals with ID/DD do have distinct and specialized needs. Aging individuals with ID/DD may face additional exclusion from the community and from their friends and families.
There is a lack of information about the social experience of aging individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD). NCI data can be used to begin to address this dearth of data and provide insight into the social challenges faced by aging individuals with ID/DD.
The following data comes from the 2009-10 National Core Indicators (NCI) Adult Consumer Survey. Approximately 7% of the total sample (833 people) were age 65 and older.
As seen in Table 1 below, NCI data show that older adults with ID/DD were consistently less likely to take part in integrated community-based activities such going shopping, out for entertainment, or out to eat. In almost all of the community participation variables (excluding “Went to religious services in past month,”) the difference in percents between the ‘under 65 years’ cohort and the ‘65 years and older’ cohort are statistically significant. This means that the differences reflect a pattern and are not due to pure chance.
Table 1. Community participation
|
|
Under 65 yrs |
65 yrs and older |
|
Went shopping in past month * |
85% |
78% |
|
Went on errands in past month * |
81% |
77% |
|
Went out for entertainment in past month * |
74% |
66% |
|
Went out to eat in past month * |
80% |
74% |
|
Went to religious services in past month |
51% |
47% |
|
Went out for exercise/sports in past month * |
49% |
36% |
|
Went on vacation in past year * |
42% |
33% |
* signifies statistically significant differences at α = 0.01; ** signifies statistically significant differences at α = 0.05;
Additionally, NCI data show that individuals 65 and older were less likely to report having friends (68%), and less likely to be able to see their families when they wanted to (69%) than were younger individuals (74%, and 81%, respectively).
NCI data suggest that older adults with ID/DD were less likely to participate in community life or to have friends or be able to see family than younger individuals with ID/DD. This data can be used by states to reinforce the need to assist older adults with ID/DD to participate in community life. In addition this data can be used to encourage the education of support workers to help people stay active and connected to community and social networks.