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Problem Area: Aging Society and...
Online Activities
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Go to the sites listed and find the specific areas mentioned in the capsules below.
- The Social Security Administration
This site offers information about the history, benefits, services, budgets, fraud monitoring, regulations, and privacy issues of the U.S. Social Security system.What Social Security benefits will you be entitled to and at what age will you be eligible to receive these benefits? There have been allegations that by the time young people of college age today reach their mid-60s, the Social Security System will be bankrupt. What information can you obtain from this web site that shed some light on this charge?
- The Older Women’s League
This is the homepage of the league, offering their mission, documents, discussion of issues, and a listing of local chapters. Have you spent any time thinking about your retirement years? Whether you are female of male, consider how organizations like The Older Women’s League might benefit you in your elderly years. If you knew that you would be retiring in a few years, do you think you would be more interested in organizations like this one? Explore this site and see if what you find there triggers some additional interest in your "later years."
- American Association of Retired Persons
This web page is a general resource of the association, with news, issues, political concerns, and information on volunteer and community programs. The AARP is one of the most powerful interest/lobby groups in existence today and as a larger proportion of "baby boomers" reach their middle-50s, this organization’s membership will grow even larger. There are a variety of topics and issues that you can click on within this site. Click on "About AARP" and then on "Legislative Issues" or "Discussion Center." Most members of the AARP comment that they should have become better informed about retirement concerns much sooner in their lives.
- National Indian Council on Aging
This page includes a mission statement, policy statements, publications, schedule of events, and more. Native Americans constitute a minority group in the United States. The position of the elderly in our society is not unlike that of other minority groups: They have less access to social, political, and economic power, and they are dominated by groups with more resources. This site provides some interesting information about elderly Native Americans today. It can be seen that when people occupy more than one minority-group status, their problems related to social inequality are likely to intensify. What do you think it would be like to be Native American and elderly in American society today?
- National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform
The NCCNHR is an organization made up of consumers and advocates who define and achieve quality for people with long term care needs.Your textbook discusses the problem of elder abuse in nursing homes and other extended-care facilities in the United States. This site provides insight into the specific problems that affect such facilities and also offers information regarding what is being done about it. Perhaps a member of your family or the relative of a close friend is confined to some type of extended-care institution. If so, you may wish to speak with this person about these issues.
- Gray Panthers
This is the official homepage for this intergenerational advocacy group, featuring information, campaigns, history, action alerts and more. You may have heard of the Black Panthers, a group of African Americans openly opposed to the white power structure, founded in 1966 by militants Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland, California. The Gray Panthers are not a militant organization, but this group took the name "Panthers" to signify that the membership is devoted to equal rights for elderly Americans and opposed to ageism and discrimination. Take some time to explore the different policy agendas of this influential group of elderly Americans.
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