America is Aging

America is growing older.  Just as our youth population swelled sixty years ago, our senior population is swelling now and will reach 71 million - making up twenty percent of our population - by 2030. Baby Boomers are now America’s Senior Boomers. And because of advances in medicine, people are living longer. The fastest growing group in America’s aging population is people over the age of 85, many of whom are remaining active, working, volunteering or in some other individualized way contributing to their communities well into their later years. As this population shift grows over the coming decades, the question of how we support and respond to the diverse needs, contexts and preferences that people have as they age will be critical.

In our work with LSA we have confirmed the need for an "aging lens" to focus on the needs and circumstances of people as they age, just as it is possible to look through a "gender lens" to focus on women's needs.  With an aging lens, it is possible to consider policies, practices, products and services, legislation and the like to see what impact they have for people as they age age, considering their needs, priorities, resources and experiences.

The needs and experiences of people as they age are diverse and often different than those of people in their younger years.  Viewing the world with an aging lens allows for the inequalities of the aging experience to be addressed by:

• Acknowledging that issues can affect the aging differently.
• Investigating the specific needs of people as they age and the opportunity to better serve this booming population with appropriate and desirable policies, products, services and programs.
• Seeking and articulating the viewpoints and increasing input of the aging into decision making processes.
• Ensuring that the needs and issues of people as they age are clearly identified and addressed through each step of the process of planning, implementing and evaluating policies, products, services and programs.
• Promoting understanding that while treating everyone in the same way may help make some things more equal, this is not sufficient to meet the specific needs of the aging.
• Creating and promoting more informed, equitable and effective responses.