Aging with disability and disability with aging

People with early-onset disabilities are said to "age with disability, " while those with mid- or late-life onsets are said to have "disability with aging. " This is stereotypic since disability and aging are processes that interleave across the whole life course. We show this empirically by studying duration of disabil-ities by age in the U.S. community-dwelling adult population. To see how persons with childhood-onset disabilities and persons with adulthood-onset differ, we compare their sociodemographic, health, disability, and social participation characteristics. The data source is the National Health Interview Survey Disability Supplement. Results showed that most persons with a disability are older and have. had recent onsets, but some persons with childhood onsets have entered middle and older ages. The greatest diversity of disability experience is at the middle ages. People with childhood-onset disabili-ties have more disabilities than those with adulthood-onset disabilities, but their social role partici-pation is similar or even higher. For both groups, poor overall health is the main factor that reduces social participation. Service providers must expect to find many commonalities among persons with disabilities of all ages while being attentive to psychosocial differences that may spring from child-hood-onset versus adulthood-onset disabilities. People who incur disability at birth or in childhood are said to &dquo;age with disability,&dquo; and those free of disability until mid-or late-life are said to experience &dquo;disability with aging.&dquo; This article disassembles the stereotypes, showing how age and dis-ability intersect in the U.S. community-dwelling adult popu-lation. We analyze the duration of disability (years since first onset) across age groups and the proportion of life with dis-ability across age groups. The domains of personal care, household management, and basic physical activities are stud-ied. We look closely at individuals with childhood-onset dis-abilities and those with adulthood-onset disabilities, evaluating their similarities and differences. Implications for service provision and policies for persons with disabilities are stated