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Now Available:
2018 Profile of Older Americans
 The Profile of Older Americans is an annual summary of critical statistics related to the older population in the United States. Relying primarily on data offered by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Profile illustrates the shifting demographics of Americans age 65 and older. It includes key topic areas such as income, living arrangements, education, health, and care-giving. The 2018 Profile also incorporates a new special section on emergency and disaster preparedness.
Select Data Highlights:
- More than 15% of the U.S. population are older adults.
- Over the past 10 years, the population age 65+ increased 34%, from 37.8 million to 50.9 million, and is projected to reach 94.7 million in 2060.
- The age 85+ population is projected to increase 123% from 2017 to 2040.
- From 2007 to 2017, racial and ethnic minority populations increased from 7.2 million (19% of older adults) to 11.8 million (23%), and are projected to reach 27.7 million in 2040 (34%).
- Currently, persons reaching age 65 have an average life expectancy of an additional 19.5 years.
- Older women outnumber older men at 28.3 million to 22.6 million, respectively.
- A larger percentage of older men (70%) are married as compared with older women (46%).
- Approximately 28% (14.3 million) of older persons live alone.
- Among adults age 75+, 42% report television is their first source of emergency information as compared with 31% for the total population. The percentage of older adults receiving information from the internet (9%) is much lower than for the total population (31%).
View/download the 2018 Profile
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 The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations (UN) launched the first World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) on June 15, 2006 to unite communities around the world in raising awareness about elder abuse.
WEAAD serves as a call-to-action for our communities to raise awareness about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elders, and reaffirm our country’s commitment to the principle of justice for all. When we come together, we can prevent elder abuse from happening. We can put support services in place, and direct community resources toward addressing elder abuse. Our country must reaffirm our commitment to justice and create a sturdy structure of support that will benefit us all as we get older.
Elder abuse is widespread. Every year an estimated 1 in 10 older Americans are victims of elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation. And that’s only part of the picture: Experts believe that elder abuse is significantly under-reported, in part because so many of our communities lack the social supports that would make it easier for those who experience abuse to report it. Research suggests that as few as 1 in 14 cases of elder abuse come to the attention of authorities.
In addition to being a clear violation of the American commitment to justice for all, elder abuse is an issue with many consequences for our society. Its effects on our communities range from public health to economic issues.
The good news is that we can prevent and address the issue of elder abuse. There are many ways to strengthen our social supports through policies, services, and programs that keep us integrated in our communities as we age:
- We can design and equip community centers to work as intergenerational spaces that allow older people to build relationships and participate in the work, play, and life of our neighborhoods.
- We can think about the role of transportation in reducing social isolation and adjust systems so that we can all continue to move throughout our communities as we age.
- We can figure out new and better ways to arrange and coordinate the teams, agencies, and programs that work specifically with older people.
- We can develop programs to educate families and professionals who work with older adults to understand the importance of preventing isolation, how to spot the warning signs of abuse, and what to do to address abuse or neglect.
By doing all that we can to strengthen the social support structure, we can reduce social isolation, protect communities and families against elder abuse, and build a nation that lives up to our promise of justice for all.
It is up to everyone to prevent and address elder abuse. Report suspected mistreatment to your local adult protective services, long-term care ombudsman or law enforcement agency who can investigate the situation. Programs such as Adult Protective Services (APS) and the Long-Term Care Ombudsmen are here to help. If you believe that an older person is in a life-threatening situation, contact 911 or the local police or sheriff’s department. Learn more about the issue. Visit the National Center on Elder Abuse website at https://ncea.acl.gov.
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 ABLE Accounts Should Not Impede Access To Housing
Federal officials are weighing in on how money saved in a relatively new type of savings account for people with disabilities influences access to housing assistance.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently issued guidance to public housing officials across the country clarifying how they should treat funds accrued in ABLE accounts.
The accounts, established under a 2014 law, are designed to allow people with disabilities the ability to save money without jeopardizing government benefits.
With the latest guidance, housing officials are spelling out how money in the accounts comes into play when individuals with disabilities seek public housing, rental assistance and other government-supported housing offerings. Traditionally, these programs have only been available to those with less than $2,000 in assets.
“Given that the ABLE Act creates a federally mandated exclusion for ABLE accounts applicable to HUD programs, in determining a family’s income, HUD will exclude amounts in the individual’s ABLE account,” the guidance states. “The entire value of the individual’s ABLE account will be excluded from the household’s assets. This means actual or imputed interest on the ABLE account balance will not be counted as income. Distributions from the ABLE account are also not considered income.”
ABLE accounts allow individuals with disabilities to save up to $100,000 without risking eligibility for Social Security and other government benefits. Medicaid can be retained no matter how much is saved in the accounts.
Money in ABLE accounts can be used to pay for qualified disability expenses including education, health care, transportation and housing. Interest earned is tax-free.
The accounts are available to those with disabilities that onset prior to age 26.
As of the end of March, there were over 40,000 ABLE accounts open nationwide with $223.8 million in assets, according to Strategic Insight, a consulting firm that tracks ABLE account trends.
To learn more about Kentucky's STABLE Accounts, visit https://www.stablekentucky.com
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 New Research Grant Opportunity: Technology for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
A new grant opportunity from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) at ACL has been announced.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: NIDILRR seeks to fund research and development that leads to innovative technological solutions and strategies to improve the accessibility, usability, and performance of technologies designed to benefit people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The purpose of the RERC program is to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act by conducting advanced engineering research on and development of innovative technologies that are designed to solve particular rehabilitation problems or to remove environmental barriers. RERCs also demonstrate and evaluate such technologies, facilitate service delivery system changes, stimulate the production and distribution of new technologies and equipment in the private sector, and provide training opportunities.
Please visit the link above for more details about the grant opportunity and application process.
This grant opportunity closes on July 19, 2019.
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