ACL

ACL has awarded the 2021 National CDSME Resource Center to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), Inc. The National CDSME Resource Center will provide technical assistance, education, and resources for the national CDSME network to increase the number of older adults and adults with disabilities who participate in evidence-based CDSME and self-management support programs.

ACL is introducing a new blog feature intended to keep the aging and disabilities networks up to date about new policies. Visit their blog page to read about the latest policy advancements in the field.

The EngAGED National Resource Center has released this data brief summarizing a survey of organizations within the aging network to see what social engagement programs were offered during the COVID-19 pandemic to older adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers.

ACL has annouced a redesign of their Nutrition and Aging Resource Center website. Content has been reorganized into key sections, including training and tools, success stories, and data and evaluation. A broad range of subsections further organize content into categories such as innovative models and events.

Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt reflects on the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in honor of its 31st anniversary. In this blog post, she writes about her experiences advocating for disability rights as a disabled woman, and how the ADA, along with her intersectional identity has impacted her life through high school, college, and into her career.

The New York Academy of Medicine, with support from ACL, has created the Older Adults Equity Collaborative Resource Library to help advance equity in aging services. This digital library collects resources for diverse populations of older adults, their caregivers, and aging service providers. It also provides technical assistance and training to the aging services network to better serve a diverse population of older adults.

In honor of Pride month, ACL has published a blog post highlighting the experiences of LGBTQ+ people with disabilities and the challeges many face in advocating for equity and inclusion. The blog post also outlines the various measures ACL has taken to ensure the diverse needs of the community are met, specficially for individuals with IDD.

On June 22, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Olmstead v L.C., delcaring that people with disabilities have a civil right under the Americans with Disabilities Act to live and fully participate in their communities. ACL's Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, Alison Barkoff, released a blog post on June 22, 2021 disucssing the significance of this ruling and the importance of expanding our HCBS system following the COVID-19 pandemic.

ACL has created a new COVID-19 resource page that houses information to help older adults and people with disabilities access vaccines. The resource page includes facts about COVID-19 vaccinations, information from the CDC about increasing vaccine accessibility, ACL guidance for the aging and disability networks and more.

To celebrate Older Americans Month, ACL has published their 2020 Profile of Older Americans report. This report highlights the demographics and experiences of older adults throughout the last year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report captures trends in workforce participation, diversity, mental health and economic disparities across the community.