Aging of Americans with Disabilities
A Discussion
Bill M Wooten, Ph.D.
Assumption
• As individuals with intellectual and other
developmental disabilities age, their health care
and other needs often increase at the same time
that the ability of their aging support provider
decreases.
• The number of adults with I/DD, age 60 years and
older is projected to nearly double from 641,860
in 2000 to 1.2 million by 2030.
Challenge
• As the population ages and life expectancies
of persons with Intellectual and other
developmental disabilities (I/DD) continue to
increase, the number of people with I/DD who
will experience life transitions will increase.
Many families have not made sufficient plans
for this transition.
Expectations
• Have an dialogue about what integrated support
system for individuals, who are disabled and
aging, will look like.
• Develop a set of next and future steps.
“While this generation of older adults with I/DD had restricted
options regarding supports in the community as they were
growing up, the next generation of adults with I/DD and their
families has grown to expect more options.”
New Challenges Require New Thinking First
“The world we have made
as a result of the level
of thinking we have done
thus far creates problems
we cannot solve at the
same level of thinking at
which we created them” –
Albert Einstein
How Social Change Happens
C = (D + V + P) > X
C = Pressure to change
D = Level of dissatisfaction with the status quo
V = Clear, shared vision for something better (i.e., desirability of
proposed change)
P = Use of process that removes obstacles blocking access to desired
state
X = Cost of changing
Adapted from Bob Bontempo, Columbia Business School, and from Thomas Packard, http://www.improve.org/tqm.html
Ground Rules for Conversations
All ideas are valid
Everything is captured: notes/ flip
charts
Listen to each other
Observe time frames
Seek common ground and action
Differences and problems are
acknowledged – but not worked on
4 Generic Questions to Start
Best experience. A time when…
What do you value about… yourself, work,
organization.
What do you think is the core life-giving factor or
value of your organization –that which if it did not
exist would make your organization totally different
than it currently is?
If you had three wishes for your organization, what
would it be?
What is Appreciative Inquiry?
• Appreciative Inquiry is a relatively new
method of organizational change that
proposes that looking for what works well
and doing more of it is a more motivating
and effective change strategy than looking
for what does not work and doing less of
it.
Goal for this Session
• At the end of this session is to
identify concrete, tangible
ways to partner with everyone
at the table in building a
spectrum of care to help aging
Houstonians with disabilities
to age in place.
Group Exercise 1
At the very heart of that kind of system are effective
collaborations. These kinds of relationships are mutually
advantageous, sustainable and empowering.
Think about your job at the agency where you currently work.
Tell me about an experience in that role where effective
collaboration had a positive impact on your clients.
Group Exercise 2
It’s 2020 and we’ve been recognized with a citywide award
for our partnerships to provide continuous care to those
aging with disabilities in Houston.
Describe that system. How did it come about? What was
your role?
In every organization, something works
Looking for what works well and doing more of it is more motivating and
effective than looking for what does not work and doing less of it.
What we focus on becomes our reality and absorbs our energy. If we
focus on the positive, it becomes our reality; if we focus on the negative
that becomes our reality.
The act of telling stores in an organization or group influences the group
in some way.
People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future (the
unknown) when they carry forward parts of the past (the known).
When we carry forward parts of the past, we want them to be what is
best about the past.
Next Steps
• That reality we just discussed is closer than we think.
• Reflecting on the experiences we previously spoke about,
what steps or actions can we take together in the next six
months to get closer to that kind of system?
Thank You!