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National poll finds older adults do not seek accommodations for disabilities as often as others

✇WDET 101.9 FM
Nargis Rahman

The National Poll on Healthy Aging found many older adults have disabilities. However, they do not identify with being disabled, nor do they request accommodations, in part due to stigma. 

The poll found 19% of adults 50 years old and older have a disability but, they are less likely to ask for accommodations. 

Dr. Michelle Mead is a professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.  

She says many older adults look at disabilities as a natural part of aging rather than a disability, and don’t want to be stigmatized. 

“Even though the groups who are 65 and older are more likely to actually have a disability, they were less likely to identify as having one,” she says. 

The survey is part of the National Opinion Research Center, conducted at the University of Chicago for the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan. 

Mead says despite older adults not seeking accommodations, half of older adults may legally qualify for accommodations, especially for those who are 65 and up.

 “This is what the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, Section 504, and this other legislation was about doing. It’s about including, providing opportunities, ensuring that a functional limitation, a diagnosis or impairment doesn’t stop people. But the stigma is that it still does,” she explains. 

Mead says older adults face stigma and barriers to living healthy lives.

“The stigma is one built into our society. We have ageism that says it’s bad to get older. That does not value the various skills and strengths that you learn and the different ways of doing things that are required through experience,” she explains.

Clinician support

The survey hopes to educate clinicians on how to serve older adults better.

“Many of the individuals with disabilities, I know, are fantastic problem solvers. They have to be. But unfortunately, the world still isn’t set up to work with, to consider, to involve people with disabilities. So, until that happens, we need to develop workarounds,” she shares.

The University of Michigan Center for Disability Health and Wellness, where Mead is the founding director, created several tip sheets for clinicians to gather relevant information to serve older adults with disabilities.

“I think what I’m hoping to do with this research is to increase awareness about the importance of asking the right questions, developing processes to allow the best care to occur, and making sure that we connect the dots to both reduce healthcare costs and improve lives,” she says. 

The poll surveyed over 3,800 adults 50 and up by phone and online. 

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The post National poll finds older adults do not seek accommodations for disabilities as often as others appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

House committee opens hearings on bill to ban medical research on dogs

✇WDET 101.9 FM
Rick Pluta

A state House committee opened hearings Thursday on a possible ban on medical research using dogs in Michigan.

 The bill would outlaw medical research and testing that could cause “pain or distress” in dogs. It’s aimed largely at hypertension and cardiovascular research at Wayne State University.

Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy at the Washington D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine told the House Regulatory Reform Committee that experimenting on dogs is becoming a rarity at research labs across the country.

   “You can see the trend and you can also clearly see that human health research can be done without causing dogs to suffer,” he said.

Former research veterinarian Sally Christopher said using live dogs for medical experiments is outdated and cruel.

“The pain and suffering by dogs at Wayne State is plain to see in the university’s own records,” she said. “What’s equally concerning is the fruitless nature of these experiments, which have not yielded benefits for human patients.”

A Wayne State University veterinary researcher told the committee that experimenting on dogs is, indeed, rare and is handled humanely.

Dr. Michael Bradley said his laboratory uses dogs in experiments on congestive heart failure and hypertension. He told the House Committee on Regulatory Reform that the National Institutes of Health funds the research because it helps save lives.

“Over the 30-plus-year history of this research at Wayne State, there have been numerous scientific advancements that have been added to the body of knowledge of cardiovascular physiology,” he said. “Contrary to recent claims, our research has produced meaningful, peer-reviewed results.”

The regulatory reform committee is chaired by Representative Joe Aragona (R-Clinton Township), who sponsored the bill.  It already has wide bipartisan support, but the committee did not vote on the bill Thursday.

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