ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the demographics of aging and provides a revised defi nition of “old.” The changing demographics have implications for current and future roles of rehabilitation professionals. In the past, rehabilitation focused on addressing the needs of populations with disabilities. With the aging of the babyboomer population, most of whom will remain in the community, the focus of rehabilitation will shift from disability to the needs of older people who may or may not have a combination of disabilities. Concurrently, there is a movement focusing on environmental design as an approach to facilitating function in seniors who may or may not yet have limitations. In other words, given the right environment, product, or even service design, some disabilities would no longer be issues.
