Most people want to be able to grow old in their own homes, surrounded by friends and family. This has fueled policies and efforts to help seniors ‘age in place’. According to the Centers for Disease Control, ’aging in place’ is defined as a person’s ability to live in their own home and community safely, comfortably and independently, regardless of their physical ability, their income or their age.
Fostering livable communities and creating friendly environment homes are critical to aging in place. This concept helps to give people the freedom they desire and ensures that they are not pushed out of their homes as they age.
However, despite the importance of this goal, there are a number of barriers that make it difficult to stay in one’s home and community.
In this post, we are going to look at one specific barrier – transportation.
Transportation itself is amazing in so many ways. It gives us the ability to get around in society and to access a wide range of services that we need for our day-to-day living. This includes things like going to the grocery store and to the doctor’s office, as well as simply visiting friends or going to a park.
In most cases, people get around by driving but this becomes less viable as an option as people age. Often, this can come as a shock because you don’t truly realize how much you rely on driving until it is no longer an option. Because of these factors, many seniors are unwilling to give up driving, even when driving puts themselves and other people at risk.
Additionally, if they do give up driving, seniors often find themselves isolated, which can have unexpected effects on overall health. Likewise, they may be unable to meet some of their own needs, such as filling prescriptions at the local pharmacy. The loss of the ability to drive can also cause seniors to feel as though they have lost their independence.
Now, it’s important to note that the potential to continue driving varies considerably from one person to the next. Some people experience significant physical or cognitive declines as they age and some of those declines can make driving dangerous or even impossible.
But, at the same time, there are also a lot of myths about senior drivers and many senior drivers truly are capable when it comes to being on the road. For caregivers, there are also a number of signs that you can watch out for that help to indicate when it may be time for a senior to consider giving up driving.
In the past, we have covered a range of solutions for transportation challenges, specifically for seniors who are no longer able to drive. However, in this post, we focus on the implications that a person’s cultural identity and ethnic background can have on their ability to get around and their patterns of transportation. To do so, we will heavily draw on information from a relatively recent study on the topic.
The Intersection Between Culture, Income and Transportation
One of the first big issues when it comes to transportation is income. Many of the transport services available cost to some degree or another, and this can create significant challenges for low income families.
Additionally, seniors from minority groups are more likely to have low income and also to heavily rely on Social Security for most or all of their income.
This can create many challenges as a person ages, especially in terms of transportation. For example, the simplest and easiest alternative to driving is to catch a taxi but doing so would quickly become too expensive for most families and most situations.
An additional issue is that the available transport can vary considerably depending on where you happen to be living. For example, some places have comprehensive bus routes along with buses that are easy for seniors and for the disabled to use. In places like this, it can be much easier for seniors to get around. In contrast, seniors will often struggle more in areas where the bus systems are less comprehensive.
This is true for other services that help seniors with transportation as well.
In fact, you typically find that low-income areas tend to have fewer options for transportation overall, which creates additional problems because these are the people that need that transportation the most.
Research also suggests that low-income older adults from minority groups are more likely to struggle with finding secure, reliable and affordable transportation. A range of socioeconomic characteristics contribute to this pattern, including being low income, having limited English proficiency in some cases and being more likely to live alone. All of these factors can act as barriers to accessing transportation.
For example, first-generation and recently immigrated seniors are more likely to speak a second language at home, rather than English. This can contribute to a limited proficiency in English, especially for seniors who are relatively isolated. Those issues with proficiency can make it difficult for seniors to read and interpret bus routes and instructions, which can be complex. At the same time, the limited proficiency in English can make it harder for the seniors to ask bus drivers or other passengers for information.
Additionally, seniors may sometimes find various transportation options to be intimidating, which can decrease the likelihood of them trying some forms of transportation.
As an example, public transportation (like buses) can be a nerve-wracking experience the first few times, especially if you are not entirely certain about the right place to get off the bus or to catch it again.
Researchers have also noticed that patterns of service use vary across cultures. For example, African Americans and Hispanics are much more likely to use buses than Whites. Additionally, the same study found that African Americans and Hispanics were more likely to use subsidized transportation for recreational reasons and less likely to use the transportation for medical reasons.
However, regardless of ethnicity, older adults tend to use public transportation infrequently. This is a cause for concern, as it suggests that there are many barriers in place the decrease the likelihood of older adults using public transportation.
At the same time, public transportation represents are fairly easy-to-access form of transportation. This suggests that it may be important to teach seniors how to use public transportation effectively while also finding other ways to reduce the barriers that seniors face in regards to this transportation.
It’s important to note that transportation is critical for meeting a person’s needs and also for the social component.
Often discussions of transportation focus only on ‘needs’, such as getting groceries and going to the doctor’s office. However, social needs are more important than most people realize. When people don’t have the chance to go out and spend time with others, it’s easy for them to become isolated, which can have negative impacts on both physical and mental health.
Future Directions
All of these issues suggest that there are serious limitations in the transport options available to seniors, especially those who fall into the low-income category or those that are from a minority group.
At the same time, public transportation options appear to be frequently underused and seniors (along with caregivers) may not be aware of the other options for transportation that exist (you can find a list of some of these here).
These issues make it clear that more work is needed to develop good transportation options for seniors and to ensure that these are accessible to their intended audience.
In many cases, achieving these goals will involve the development of new policies and the provision of funding towards transportation options that suit the needs of seniors, particularly minority seniors.
So, what does this mean for caregivers and seniors?
Well, it suggests that the options you have available to you are going to greatly depend on where you are living and your income level. In some cases, you may have a wide range of different options but in other cases you may find your options are severely limited.
However, there are often options available, such as reduced fare programs and government-sponsored programs to help seniors get to and medical care. So, it’s worth looking into the options that are available in your area, as you may well find one that suits.
We also provide individualized support and assistance in a wide range of areas, including in relation to transportation options and support.
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