Abstract: To advance the dignity and well-being of elders. The nurse practitioner did not really want to be in the diversity workshop. There was just too much paperwork these days, and she needed time at her desk. Besides, she already had been taught about diversity and aging because she was stationed at the senior center two mornings each week. She knew, for exampie, that African Americans are at greater risk for several geriatric conditions. On her own, she had been trying to learn a few words of Vietnamese, since she never felt comfortable having a clients child or friend serve as interpreter. All the workshop participants were asked to give their names and to pose any questions that they had starting the day. She waited until others had spoken. When it was her turn, she said, see people as people, white, black, yellow, or purple. I treat each person individually. Is `taking diversity into account' more than that? From de Tocqueville (Reeve text, 1945) to Porter and Rumbaut (2ooi), a recurrent theme in commentary on the United States has been its status as a country where most residents recognize their elders or ancestors as from somewhere else. Some have praised and others have despaired over the mix of cultures created, forming either a cohesive national melting pot or a vapid, commercial culture catering to the lowest common denominator. Others have likened this U.S. cultural fabric to a patchwork quilt based on emergent shared values that serve as frames and themes, and sewn from disparate strands, interwoven and transformed, with lovely bits and pieces that have somehow arrived from around the world, sometimes tattered and sometimes brilliant. How are people in the field of aging who are concerned with advancing the dignity and wellbeing of elders to respond? Dealing with this hand-me-down does not have the urgent appeal of, say, applying new science and addressing broad policy and financing issues. Yet, an understanding of demographic imperatives and the broader social forces that influence elders and their care suggests that our central challenges do indeed revolve around how we are to shape, spread, and fold this cultural patchwork quilt so that it offers warmth and protection for all. Hayes-Bautista (see this issue) uses new data from Census 2000 and other sources to describe the demographic imperative for elders, eldercare activists, service providers, and policy makers to take cultural diversity into account. These data show the following: that the bulk of elders are heterosexual and of European descent, characteristics that will continue to predominate as the enormous baby boom cohort ages; that the aged population of the United States is more diverse with respect to race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation than ever before and will become more so over time; and that the non-aged population is becoming increasingly diverse, with a greater proportion of immigrants and children of immigrants than at any time since the dawn of the twentieth century. Three central tasks for aging policies, programs, and practitioners are suggested by these patterns: (i) meeting the needs of current elders from diverse groups; (2) managing an eldercare workforce that is quite different in race and ethnicity and life experiences from the aging boomers; and (3) supporting the economic achievements of younger people from diverse backgrounds while promoting their sense of social solidarity with elders so that they will continue to be willing and able to support eldercare programs. The experiences of the 1990s, when these same demographic trends were already observable, suggest that programs and practitioners serving older people will continue to be challenged by these tasks. This conclusion is also supported by accumulating evidence of broad variations by race and ethnicity, gender, class, and other factors in access to appropriate health and human services (ioM, 2002) and continuing heated debates over policies concerning immigrants, welfare, and community development. …
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-10-01
Language: en
Type: review
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 13
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot