AER Division on Aging News

AER Division on Aging News

Dear Members of Division 15,

We hope you will enjoy this newsletter. From now on, we will be sending out a newsletter quarterly so we hope you will contribute and help us with disseminating information to the field.

Officers:

Pris Rogers, chair

Neva Fairchild, chair elect

Holly Kaczmarski, secretary/treasurer, serving her second term.

Alberta Orr, past chair, is serving as newsletter editor.

From the Chair:

As you know, our membership has always been small, and we are mostly a secondary membership for many of our members who are VRT’s or CLV’s. To grow our membership, we suggest that each of us identify one person who is an AER member to join Division 15. In that way we can double our numbers and our strength and reach more people through our information vehicles. So I challenge you to try this. Let us know your results! You can reach me at .

A Chance to Talk with Other Division Members About Aging Issues

Division 15 is planning a “virtual” water cooler discussion group, May 15, 2015 at 1:00 pm eastern.

The water cooler discussion will be conducted via telephone.

Do you ever wish you could talk over what’s going on in your work around the water cooler? If you are the only person working with aging issues in your office, it may be difficult to find a willing listener who can constructively talk things over with you. The division has been thinking of a venue to bring the collective expertise of this division together for problem solving issues that come up every day for professionals who work with older persons who are experiencing vision loss. We would love to receive your topics for this discussion by April 30th... Email your suggested topics to . The first water cooler session will focus on resources to assist with potential problems. We look forward to the call and hope it is successful for everyone. We will send call in information at a later date. But mark May 15 on your calendars. By the way, May is Older Americans month!

National Conferences Related to Aging

AER 2015 Conference on Vision Loss in Older Adults and Veterans

We have a wonderful opportunity for our Division to shine at AER’s 2015:Conference on Vision Loss in Older Adults and Veterans: Leveraging our Collective Wisdom. It will be held November 4-6, 3015 in Norfolk, VA. Here is the website for the conference:

This conference will honor older adults with vision loss and our veterans and service members who have been affected by injury or age-related eye disease resulting in vision loss.The conference will be a state-of-the art meeting that focuses on the gains in vision rehabilitation made over the past 15 years in the private sector, the VA, and the DOD.This conference will be of interest to vision rehabilitation and low vision therapists, occupational therapists, optometrists, ophthalmologists, and others in the vision medical field who work with blinded veterans and older persons with vision loss.

The deadline for abstract submissions for presentations and posters is March 16 so get your submission in soon.

Presentation topics can include but are not limited to:

Age-related vision loss
Employment of older adults and blinded veterans
Government benefits and services
Physical activity and recreation
Medical issues in the aging
Prosthetics
Retirement issues
Traumatic brain injuries resulting in blindness
Quality of life

Your Division 15 leadership is involved in helping plan the conference.

2015 White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA)

The 2015 White House Conference on Aging will mark the 50th Anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act, as well as the 80th anniversary of Social Security. The WHCOA has been held once a decade, beginning in 1961 and is designed to help chart the course of aging policy. The 2015 WHCOA is an opportunity to look ahead to the issues that will help shape the landscape for older Americans for the next decade. Key issues to be the focus of the conference are:

Retirement security is a vitally important issue.Financial security in retirement provides essential peace of mind for older Americans, but requires attention during our working lives to ensure that we are well prepared for retirement.

Long-term services and supports remain a priority.Older Americans overwhelmingly prefer to remain independent in the community as they age. They need supports to do so, including a caregiving network and well-supported workforce.

Healthy aging will be all the more important as baby boomers age.As medical advances progress, the opportunities for older Americans to maintain their health and vitality should progress as well.

Seniors, particularly the oldest older Americans, can be vulnerable to financial exploitation, abuse, and neglect.The Elder Justice Act was enacted as part of the affordable care act, and we need to realize its vision of protecting seniors from scam artists and others seeking to take advantage of them.

The vision field has opportunities to provide feedback to the planning of the WHCOA to express the concerns for older people who are blind or visually impaired related to these key priorities. WHCOA will have regional forums in Tampa, Phoenix, Seattle, Cleveland, and Boston. For more information, visit the WHCOA website: whitehouseconferenceonaging.gov.

AFB Will Also Host A Session to Feed Input to the WHCOA, as a part of the AFB Leadership Conference in Phoenix in April

A National Conversation on Aging and Vision Loss: Giving Feedback for the 2015 White House Conference on Aging on April 9 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Renaissance Phoenix Hotel, 50 East Adams St., Phoenix, AZ (during the AFB Leadership Conference) in Salon 5.

Who Should Attend: Older people with vision problems, family members, service providers, policymakers

Share your concerns about issues that affect older adults with vision loss that need to be addressed through state and national policy related to the White House Conference on Aging Issues.

Registration:

This event is free, but you must preregister by emailing or calling 480-382-1530.

If you cannot attend, please take our online survey:

Or call 480-382-1530 to leave your comments about these issues.

Attend the Entire AFB Leadership Conference

You are welcome to register to attend the entire Leadership Conference. There are many sessions that will focus on topics of interest to Division 15 members including such topics as supporting adults in the transition from driving to non-driving, rehabilitation teaching, accessibility of health apps and devices, and technology and low vision.

Check out the agenda at

News from the Field

The Division on Aging tries to provide resources to professionals who are working with or on behalf of older individuals who are experiencing vision loss. So here are some articles about what is going on throughout the country.

Agency News

VISIONS

Visions is proud to celebrate the completion of a second year of operations of the Visions Center on Aging Senior Center for Elders with Vision Loss. With enrollment at 610 participants and meal service for an average of 150 participants daily, the center is a huge success. Visions believes it is the only senior center funded by city government specifically adapted for the needs of blind and severely visually impaired seniors. Activities include computer classes using jaws and zoomtext, fitness and exercise, dance, wii classes, yoga, photography, arts and crafts, support groups, intergenerational programs including make overs, volunteers, library services including downloaded books, cane clinic, braille lessons and social work counseling. To learn more about visions center on aging visit or email the senior center director Carrie Lewy at .

Visions offers support for unpaid caregivers assisting someone that is 60 years or older or a grandparent raising grandchildren under the age of 18. Either the caregiver or the care recipient must be blind or visually impaired. This free service is funded by the NYC Department for the Aging under the Older Americans Act. Caregivers may be family members, neighbors, friends, companions and/or partners. Visions serves over 750 caregivers annually providing support groups, respite services, subsidies for unreimbursed equipment/supplies and bereavement groups. To learn more about visions caregiver support project visit or email Diana Cruz .

Also, Visions Center on Blindness (VCB), a residential rehabilitation and wellness center for people with vision loss of all ages and their families, has posted the summer 2015 catalog of sessions. VCB serves people primarily living in New York and New Jersey. However all blind persons and their families are welcome to apply regardless of state of residence. Sessions are age and/or theme based. VCB also welcomes summer staff applicants and encourages blind and sighted college and graduate students that are interested in a career in the field of vision loss to apply for summer employment. Visit for a summer employment application.

Submitted by:

Nancy D. Miller, LMSW
Executive Director/CEO
212-625-1616 ext. 117

Cell 917-859-9184

Columbia River Services for the Blind and visually Impaired

This agency, located in in southeastern Washington State, works with all age groups on occasion but primarily with adults, especially adults age 55 and over, who are experiencing age-related vision loss. The agency provides independent living skills, travel training skills, orientation and mobility skills, and accessible technology training.

The agency works with the local transit authority helping transit riders learn to use the fixed-route bus system which provides transit customers with more independence and more spontaneity in their daily lives. By using the fixed-route system a pre-arranged ride is not necessary as it is with par transit. It also saves the transit system money as fixed-route bus expenses per rider are about one-fourth the expenses to the transit as par transit costs per rider. It is a win-win for both the transit agency and the consumer who is older or has a disability.

Columbia River Services also trains people to use accessible technology, using everything from low vision aids to screen readers, enlarged letter keyboards, jaws and window eyes. The agency also offers outings to various places in the community such as plays and sporting events. There are groups such as card groups, lunch groups, book groups, and all sorts of social activities to allow people to enjoy their community. This is very important to a person's self-esteem to know that they can still be an active participant in community activities.

Submitted by

Holly Kaczmarski

Blind Rehabilitation and Accessible Technology Specialist

Columbia River Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired

1205 s. 3rd street

Dayton, WA 99328

Phone: 509-520-3521

Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults

Confident Living Program for Senior Adults Who Are Hard Of Hearing and Blind or Visually Impaired

Dates for 2015 programs:

April 13-18 and October 19-24

Helen Keller National Center's Senior Adult Services is pleased to announce the dates for the 2015 Confident Living programs to be held at HKNC’S headquarters in Sands Point, NY.

HKNC is offering two sessions this year. If you know of individuals who would benefit from one of our programs, please pass this flyer along to them.

These one-week programs are specially designed for senior adults (age 55 and better), who are hard of hearing and their primary means of communication

Participants in this program will obtain information and an introduction to skills in:

Coping with hearing and vision loss
Enhancing independent living skills
Enhancing communication skills
Experiencing new technology
Self advocacy
Elder law
Emergency preparedness

Community integration
Developing community resources
Utilizing support service providers (SSPS)
Leisure activity options
Sharing life experiences with others
Having fun.

Program costs

Tuition with room and board $1,300.00

Transportation

Arrival & departure

Participants must arrive on Monday before 3 p.m. And depart on Saturday by noon.

Support service provider (SSP)

We strongly encourage consumers to bring their own support service provider to assist them during the training. However, this is not a requirement! SSPS will be given free room and meals during the week. SSPs must provide their own transportation, and must share a room with their consumer. SSPs may be a spouse, other family member, or a service provider.

Due to the intensity and one-to-one focus for many of the classes, we accept a total of six (6) participants in each program.

Please contact Paige Berry if you have any questions!

804-827-0920 voice

Senior Adult Service

Helen Keller National Center

PO Box 980330

Richmond, VA 23298

Important News Related to Aging from JVIB

Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 2016 Special Issue on Aging

Guest editors: John E. Crews, D.P.A., Vision Health Initiative, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention And Health Promotion, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention; And Bernard A. Steinman, Ph.D., Center for Social And Demographic Research On Aging, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Deadline for submissions: February 28, 2016

Projected publication date: November-December 2016

The Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) invites papers addressing a variety of topics related to aging and vision impairment. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

•Innovative application of technology,

•Novel rehabilitation interventions,

•Partnerships and collaborations in state- and community-based programs,

•Access and utilization of vision rehabilitation,

•Family caregiving,

•Outcomes measurement,

•Quality of life,

•Interventions addressing health promotion and chronic conditions,

•Public policy,

•Health policy, and

•Health services research.

International contributions are welcome. Practice papers, as well as conceptual and research papers, are invited.

Authors should feel free to contact the guest editors to discuss potential ideas. John Crews can be reached at: . Bernard Steinman can be reached at: .

Guidelines for contributors are available from: phone: 212-502-7651; e-mail: . The maximum length of full manuscripts is 5,000 words. Maximum length of research reports and practice reports is 2,500 words.

Submissions should be sent to: . Submitted manuscripts will undergo standard peer review.

Articles from the Field

What's So Wrong with "Elderspeak," Anyway? Answer: Everything

A blog from VisionAware

Posted on 10/23/2014 at 12:37 am
by Maureen Duffy

Hypocorisma: it's the bane of older adulthood. What is hypocorisma, you ask? Here is a helpful (and perceptive) definition from Maeve Maddox:

“Hypocorism is a type of euphemism derived from a Greek word meaning ‘pet name.’ the English word hypocorism may be defined as ‘the diminutive or otherwise altered version of a given name.’

The use of diminutives and pet names is usually an indication of affection or intimacy, but sometimes hypocorisma is used to diminish, infantilize, or insult. For example, the same words used as endearments by family members and close friends are seen as insulting when they come from strangers.

People in their seventies and above are so often addressed in nursery language that researchers have a word for this type of hypocorisma: elderspeak.