Older workers make important contributions to the workplace, its productivity, and its culture. Work remains important for older adults for financial security, to give meaning to later life, to maintain social networks, and to promote lifelong learning. However, ageist beliefs about the capacity of older adults to remain productive and contributing workers in the workforce can create barriers for older workers. Understanding how older workers experience ageist behavior in the workplace can help employers, policy makers, and social workers learn more about how to address this social problem. Organizations can become more age friendly through enabling workplace programs, supportive management, and proactive human resource managers. Social workers serving older adults in employee assistance programs and in private practice can help them to challenge ageism in the workplace. Finally, legislation such as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects the rights of older workers; however, more legislation is needed to address bullying and harassment of older adults in the workplace.
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Ageism in the Workplace
Patricia Brownell
Article
Aging: Public Policy
Jeanette C. Takamura
Public policy advances in the field of aging in the United States have lagged compared to the growth of the older adult population. Policy adjustments have been driven by ideological perspectives and have been largely incremental. In recent years, conservative policy makers have sought through various legislative vehicles to eliminate or curb entitlement programs, proposing private sector solutions and touting the importance of an “ownership society” in which individual citizens assume personal responsibility for their economic and health security. The election of a Democratic majority in the U.S. House and the slim margin of votes held by Democrats in the U.S. Senate may mean a shift in aging policy directions that strengthens Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, if the newly elected members are able to maintain their seats over time. The results of the 2008 presidential election will also determine how the social, economic, and other policy concerns will be addressed as the baby boomers join the ranks of older Americans.
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Social Work Practice with Deaf and Hard of Hearing People
Martha A. Sheridan, Judith L. Mounty, and Barbara J. White
Effective social work practice with deaf and hard of hearing people requires a unique multifaceted application of knowledge, values, skills, and ethical considerations. Salient topics include language, communication, educational experiences, culture, and access to information and community resources. Required competencies include knowledge of diversity within the population, the implications of various psychosocial and developmental environments, deaf communities, cultural values and norms, and sign language fluency. In this article, related theory, research, practice competencies, and intervention approaches are discussed. An integrative strengths-based transactional paradigm is recommended.
