By Vicki Gottlich, Director of the Center for Policy and Evaluation, Administration for Community Living

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 with the Administration for Community Living (ACL) who manages grants related to the Help American Vote Act (HAVA).

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 abuse of older adults and persons with disabilities. This year’s theme, Stronger Together: Celebrating 25 Years Protecting America’s Vulnerable Adults, provides an important opportunity to shed light on why we need a comprehensive community response to elder abuse.

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-In program launched historic changes for workers with disabilities. For individuals suppressing their income to gain or maintain access to critical community-based supports, it was life changing.

Expect. Employ. Empower. Everyone deserves the opportunity to find and perform meaningful work. This includes older adults and people with even the most significant disabilities.

By Christopher Coleman, CEO and Founder of the Unconfined Life Institute

By Larissa Crossen, Administration for Community Living Program Specialist

"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 Older Americans Act’s largest health promotion program, the Elderly Nutrition Programs do more than just provide food. The purposes of the Elderly Nutrition Programs, which are administered by ACL, are

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 health conditions can create challenges that affect every aspect of a person’s life. However, learning to manage those conditions enables people to stay healthy, active, and engaged in their communities.

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 recent study in the United States indicated that 8.8% of households with older adults are food insecure, which means they aren’t sure where or how they will get their next meal.