Our increasingly mobile society may cause special problems for the ethnic elderly. In Arizona, Native Americans face special problems. State and Federal disputes over responsibility for services has left an especially needy population vulnerable. Older citizens with developmental disabilities may face many of the same problems. Their problems are compounded by the fact that the aging services network is unfamiliar with their needs, and is strained by the additional demands imposed by this special population.
Physical disabilities are increasingly common among the elderly.
Physical barriers are even more limiting to the elderly physically disabled than to their younger counterparts. Homelessness is increasingly common among the elderly. Particularly the elderly mentally ill, who in previous decades would have been housed in institutions, may now be displaced. Veterans as a group are getting older, and medical programs and facilities designated for their care are not geared to meet their changing needs.