Older Adults With Developmental Disabilities (Society and Aging Series)

This book provides an overview of the elderly population who have developmental disabilities. It attempts to assess their needs and their lives as they age. In many ways, this is a pioneer population, one of the first generations of persons with developmental disabilities who have survived into later life. As this population of persons with developmental disabilities ages, new challenges will emerge for specialists and educators both in the areas of gerontology and developmental disabilities. Programs designed for mid-life persons with developmental disabilities will have to be modified to serve older adults. Senior services, too, will have to incorporate the needs of this unique population into their own plans and programs.

This book seeks to facilitate that task. It is based on our personal experience in the fields of gerontology and developmental disabilities, and the research of colleagues in both fields. Most importantly, interviews with older adults with developmental disabilities provide a powerful glimpse into their lives and needs as they face old age. We begin with a brief introduction to this population, as well as a review of the reasons why older persons with developmental disabilities have now been identified as a group in need of new services, programs, and initiatives. Subsequent chapters explore the particular characteristics and implications of developmental disabilities.

Later chapters review the manner in which persons with developmental disabilities are affected physically, psychologically, and socially as they age. For as they age, all adults encounter change both in themselves as well as in the circumstances of their lives.

We then explore the crises and transitions that older persons with developmental disabilities face, focusing on their coping strengths and limitations, as well as the supportive services that they now utilize and will need in the future. This leads naturally into a discussion of the policy implications posed by this growing population: Which systems can best provide support? What policies and services are needed? How can parents, siblings and other caregivers plan and help?

We end with an examination of how best to meet the mental health needs of this group that faces the double jeopardy of developmental disabilities and old age.