Aging Parents Fear the Future

Jessica Funkhouser’s specialty is putting together small clamps that attach conduits to the wall, but she has big dreams. At 28, she likes dragons and dinosaurs, heavy metal music and history. She wants to be a writer.

Tom Funkhouser and his wife,
Patti, right, with their daughters
Lori, 24, in pink, and Jessica, 28.

At Pride Industries’ Auburn workshop in California — where her father, 61-year-old Tom Funkhouser, a Navy veteran and Hewlett Packard retiree, works as a production trainer across the floor from Jessica’s work table — she puts on her turquoise earphones and deals with the clamps.“I usually just do clamp, clamp, clamp," she said.But she’s working, and she likes that.When she was born with a rare genetic disorder causing developmental disabilities and physical challenges, doctors told Tom and Patti Funkhouser that their tiny, dark-haired daughter would never walk or talk. She probably wouldn’t even survive childhood, doctors said.

Adutls with Autism Need Help, Too

From the Toronto Star's recent series "The Autism Project."


They are called the lost generation, adults with autism who are heading inevitably toward the uncharted territory of old age.
It is a perilous destination. When they were children, no one knew how to treat autistic brains and now that they’re getting old, no one knows how autism and aging interact. Mostly abandoned by science, they are now being left behind by elderly parents who are dying or can no longer care for them.

Fewer Services for People with Down Syndrome Affected By Alzheimer's

David Arms and Lucretia Cassano
sort lollipops at New Horizons.

NORTH HILLS, Calif. -- She had learned to care for herself, to work and count her money so she could buy food, set the table, tell time and use a phone to dial 911.
Now 60 years old, Denise Steinberg is forgetting the little things. She puts her blouse on backwards or her pants on inside out. Her attention span has dwindled. She is acting out toward her roommates.

Administration on Community Living Formed to Support Seniors with Disabilities

A doctor makes a house call.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced Monday that it has established a new Administration on Community Living under HHS, which will be dedicated to “enhancing and improving the broad range of supports that individuals with disabilities and seniors may need to live with respect and dignity as full members of their communities” — rather than in nursing homes or other institutions.