Diversity week 11/12 Diversity Through The Ages: Youth and Older Adults

Vocabulary flashcards covering the challenges and social systems related to youth homelessness, foster care, aging, and dementia as discussed in Lectures 11 and 12.

Street Involved Youth

Young people up to age $24$ who are no longer living with parents or guardians, and who lack stable housing, employment, and educational opportunities.

Homeless Youth (The Homeless Hub)

Young people living in extreme poverty whose lives are characterized by inadequate income and health care, and lack necessary social supports for the transition into adulthood.

Crown Wards

Children who have been permanently removed from their homes and families, and for whom the province has assumed formal responsibility as a "parent."

Voluntary Youth Service Agreement

A plan available to youth aged $16$ or $17$ who cannot be adequately protected at home to develop a safe and appropriate housing option.

Housing First for Youth

A framework for moving youth out of homelessness as quickly as possible with no preconditions, providing supports for life skills and re-engagement with education or employment.

Harm Reduction

A strategy that places risky behavior on a continuum, accepts that change is incremental, and ensures interventions are creative and innovative to reflect the person's life situation.

Frail elderly

Those who have significant physical or mental health problems that interfere with their independence and require them to depend on others for care and daily function.

Elder Abuse

A situation where older people are pressured, bullied, misled, swindled, or neglected, involving physical, emotional, financial, or sexual assault.

Dementia

A clinical syndrome characterized by a general and irreversible loss of mental capabilities, such as memory, reasoning, judgment, and communication.

Alzheimer’s disease

A chronic, irreversible neurodegenerative disease that destroys brain cells, causing thinking ability and memory to deteriorate over time; it accounts for $60\text{--}80\%$ of all dementia diagnoses.

Limbic system

The area of the brain involved with memory and emotion that is affected early in Alzheimer's disease, leading to suspiciousness, irritability, or depression.

Frontal lobe

The part of the brain that initiates activity, allows us to plan and organize, and regulates social judgment and behavior.

Hippocampus

The brain region where verbal and visual memory are processed; damage here leads to an inability to retain memory of the recent past.

Parietal lobes

Brain sections that help put activities in the right sequence and control the understanding of spatial information.

Occipital lobe

The brain lobe that controls vision, allowing the combination of colors, shapes, and movement into meaningful patterns.

Amyloid Plaques

Dense clusters of amyloid-beta ($A\text{-beta}$) protein that build up between brain cells and block signals from being transferred.

Vascular dementias

Dementias that develop as a result of repeated losses of brain cells when blood vessels are damaged by stroke, hypertension, or other oxygen supply interferences.

Ontario Works

A social assistance program for which those aged $16$ or older are eligible under special circumstances, such as abuse, if they do not reside with parents.

Palliative care units

Facilities designed to be responsive to the emotional and spiritual needs of the dying, with the primary goal of alleviating discomfort, pain, and suffering.

Ageism

A form of discrimination or stigma based on age that affects seniors directly and indirectly, impacting their access to support and mental health.