For many years, state courts have routinely assigned guardians to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they became adults. Older adults with dementia-related disorders also frequently have been assigned guardians. The trouble with guardianship is that it is a legal process. A…

By Vicki Gottlich, Director of the Center for Policy and Evaluation, Administration for Community Living Medicare Open Enrollment season is a time when Medicare beneficiaries can review their policies to make sure their medical care—fee-for-service or managed care—and their pharmacy plans are…

Protecting the Voting Rights of People with Disabilities In this blog, we feature a conversation about voting rights for people with disabilities between Commissioner Aaron Bishop, of the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD), and Melvenia Wright, a program specialist…

By Bonnie Brandl, Director of the National Clearinghouse for Abuse in Later Life This week, the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) hosted their annual conference, which brought together hundreds of APS workers and other professionals from a variety of disciplines to address the…

As Sharon Lewis, deputy administrator for the Administration for Community Living (ACL), noted in her Disability Employment Awareness Month blog post earlier this month, working is about more than earning a paycheck. It gives purpose and structure to our lives. In the late 1990s, the Medicaid Buy-…

By Christopher Coleman, CEO and Founder of the Unconfined Life Institute For the fourth and final blog in observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we invited author and disability rights advocate Christopher Coleman to share his story. Mr. Coleman, who was born with cerebral…

By Larissa Crossen, Administration for Community Living Program Specialist Most Americans recognize work as an important part of a person’s ability to contribute to the community. Yet, people with disabilities face remarkably high unemployment rates. According to recent statistics released by the U…

What people say when they greet each other can tell us about their culture as well as their community’s experience. One traditional Mandarin greeting translates into English as "Have you eaten?" Linguists believe this practice probably started when food was scarce and people were often hungry. A…

Chronic health conditions are, unfortunately, often a part of the aging process. Ninety-two percent of people over age 65 live with at least one chronic health condition, such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, or cancer. Seventy-seven percent live with two or more such conditions. Chronic…

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" is as true now as it was in 360 BC when Hippocrates gave this prescription to his patients. Good nutrition promotes health and helps prevent and manage many diseases such as diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, and high blood pressure. As the…