Age related disability
Contents
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General points on disability
Impact of vision loss
Impact of hearing loss
Impact of loss of mobility
Impact of memory loss and dementia
Impact of medication
Making connections
Looking after yourself
Aged related disability
• People are living longer
• 700% increase in older people (75+) in next
50 years
• Illnesses more likely to be chronic
• 90% of over 75s have some clinical diagnosis
• By age 85, 47% Australians will have a
disability requiring assistance
• REMEMBER WE’RE ALL ON THE LIST
General points on disability
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Older people are not a homogeneous group
Speak to person directly
Age appropriate language
Wheel chair courtesy
Don’t take over
Ask if they need help and accept “No”
Allow for fatigue
Language of disability
• Is language important or is it all political
correctness gone mad?
Use
Language of disability
Don’t use
Person with disability
Disabled person
Person suffering from..
An epileptic/paraplegic
Crippled
Abnormal
Impairment
Handicap
Accessible parking/toilet
Disabled parking/toilet
Seizure
Fit
Uses a wheelchair
Wheel chair bound
Person with an intellectual disability
Mentally retarded
Non- disabled, person without disability
Normal
Person with cerebral palsy
Spastic, cripple
Case Study
• Di, the leader of the chat group, has been told
that new member, Sandra, is vision impaired.
She is eager to help and when Sandra arrives
she grabs her by the arm and leads her to a
chair. Di makes sure she addresses questions
to Sandra but is disappointed that Sandra
doesn’t seem to join in and sits looking
bewildered.
Impact of vision loss
• Inadequacy of body language
• Inadequacy of visual aides
• Who is speaking?
• Who else is there?
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Strategies
Identify who is there
Don’t shout
Don’t push or steer
Show where things are placed. Don’t move them
Say when you are leaving
Don’t pat assistance animals
Use large fonts
Microsoft “Ease of Access Centre”
Large key boards
Voice recognition software – Dragon, Claro
Case Study
• Gary is worried about having Leo in his
computer class as he has been told that Leo is
hard of hearing. He is concerned that if he has
to shout it will spoil the ambience of the class.
Impact of hearing loss
• Few people have no hearing at all
• 60% of lip reading is guess work
• Hearing aides do not always restore a full
range of hearing
Strategies for hearing loss
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Ask if they lip read or would prefer written notes
Face to face and don’t cover mouth
Speak clearly but don’t exaggerate lip movements
Don’t shout
Use alternative vocabulary
Cut down back ground noise
Use visual clues
Case study
• Joe picks up Mrs Black to take her for her
appointments. She uses a Zimmer frame,
walks very slowly and is hard of hearing. Joe is
very patient but she complains about his
driving the whole journey, and never says
please or thank you. Joe thinks she is very
ungrateful but also wonders if it is something
he’s done to offend her.
Impact of physical disability
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Not just wheelchairs
Not just legs
Decreased muscle tone
Pain
Fatigue
Access
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Handrails
Ramps
Doorhandles
Door widths
Desk heights
Parking and toilets
Kitchen
Strategies for physical disability
• Allow frequent breaks - fatigue and bladder
control
• Allow for absences
• Alternative technology – keyboards, track
balls, head pointers, sticky keys,
• Tablets
• Wheelchair courtesy
Case study
• Vera never misses Book Club each month. She
never seems to have read the book, and she
has difficulty remembering people’s names.
There are people on the waiting list to join the
club and the facilitator wonders if this is the
right activity for Vera.
Impact of memory loss
• Normal age related memory loss
– Occasionally forgetting where things are left that are
used regularly.
– Forgetting names of acquaintances.
– Occasionally forgetting an appointment.
– Having trouble remembering what’s just been read, or
the details of a conversation.
– Walking into a room and forgetting why.
– Becoming easily distracted.
– Not quite being able to retrieve information “on the
tip of the tongue.”
Strategies for working with memory
loss
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Break tasks into small steps
Make lists
One instruction at a time
Remove distractions
Reflection and review
Check for understanding
Repetition and rehearsal
Be patient – people with normal age related
memory loss can learn
Impact of dementia
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May have times of lucidity
May have difficulty finding a word
May talk fluently but with no sense
May not understand what you say
May lose sense of social conventions
May no respond with appropriate emotions
May constantly repeat behaviours or as ask the same
questions
Strategies for people with dementia
• Remain calm and talk in matter of fact way
• Live with their reality
• Body language, tone of voice, facial
expressions important
• Short sentences, one idea at a time
• Allow time for what you say to be understood
• Maintain routine and consistent approaches
• Allow time to speak
• Talk without questions
What not to do
• Don’t argue
• Don’t order around
• Done tell them what they can’t do
• Don’t be condescending
Effect of medication
• Side effects may include:
– Lack of motivation
– Inappropriate emotions
– Disorganised thought
– Concentration problems
– Anxiety
– Tremors
Strategies
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It’s not you – don’t take personally
Encourage small achievements
Allow for frequent breaks
Acknowledge frustration
Stay calm
Minimise distractions
Negotiate realistic tasks
Making connection
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Discover their social style
Share information
Model social skills
Introduce to others but not all at once
Done answer for someone
Biscuit power
Define your relationship - boundaries
Look after yourself
• There will be times when you feel dispirited,
frustrated, overwhelmed.
• This is normal BUT do not react negatively
– Take a break
– Find someone to talk to
Handy Apps
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The Vision Australia website has a huge number of apps which can be used with VoiceOver technology
http://www.visionaustralia.org/living-with-low-vision/learning-to-live-independently/using-technologyand-computers/help-yourself!-technology-podcasts-and-resources/all-about-apps
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Glide Video texting: Taking the deaf community by storm - SMS but in Auslan
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Dragon: Voice recognition program
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Claro PDF: Speaks back accessible text PDF files with high quality speech and highlights text so you
can follow the words as spoken
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Pages: a document maker which can be easily converted to Word or Pdf for transmission to other
devices
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Find My Friends: a way to share a location with other. Friends who share their locations appear on
a map so the user can quickly see where they are and what they’re up to.
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WhatsApp Messenger: a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows exchange of messages
without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android,
Windows Phone and Nokia and allows these phones to message each other