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Sensory Assignment
Sensory Assignment
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As people grow into their old age, they often experience sensory problems that prevent them from living life as they did before. Such sensory issues include a deterioration in vision and hearing, conditions affecting limbs such as arthritis, and even loss of smell. These changes happen gradually over time, and those around the older adults have to step in and help them. Those with advanced conditions require full-time care as they are unable to do the most basic routines, such as walking. When one is young and healthy, it is difficult to imagine how old people with such sensory conditions feel. The sensory assignment was a perfect experiment to allow students experience these changes, the problems that accompany them, their feelings and thoughts, as well as the challenges presented by the environment.
Given the fact that my home environment is familiar to me, the sensory problems were not as intense as the new environment. The tinted and oiled glasses proved to be quite a challenge as I am used to my clear visions. I had to fight off the urge to remove them severally in the course of the assignment. The loss of hearing and eyesight was my greatest challenge. The earplugs locked out almost every sound, and the silence was overwhelming. I could not hear most things, and this, coupled with limited eyesight, made things very difficult indeed. Movement around the house with the glasses proved a challenge, although my feet instinctively found their step due to the familiar environment. To add to the frustrating experience, I could barely smell anything. I am used to familiar smells such as food, my mom’s perfume, and other seemingly insignificant scents. The wire tape around my knuckles made it almost impossible to hold on to anything.
For the new environment, I chose a nearby church that I had never been to. As we pulled up near the church building, I could tell it was going to be much more challenging, given the steps leading to the door. There was a small ramp to the side, but I chose to practice with the stairs. I altered my senses sequentially as well as cumulatively. For the sequential part, things were not as bad as one sense could help where the others were significantly inhibited. The visual challenge proved the hardest. The treated glasses barely allowed me to see anything, and I stumbled through the steps. Putting on the earplugs without any other altered sense was not so bad as I could see the things I could not hear. I could use my phone with ease, which was quite a relief. The wire tape to my knuckles was not too challenging as I did not have much to hold or grab while in the church. Both at home and in the new environment, the gloves presented a considerable problem to my sense of touch as I could not differentiate between different textures. In both places, sequential alteration allowed other senses to function where others were impaired, but the cumulative alteration was the worst. I could barely see, feel, hear or touch anything, and got into some accidents such as a minor fall at the church, hitting objects such as walls and dropping things at home.
The temporary emphatic status took quite a toll on my thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The most prominent feeling was that of helplessness, especially when it came to cumulative alterations. I had to call out for help with everything, such as a glass of water which fell, walking to my room, and choosing which perfume to wear. Using my phone was out of the question as I could neither see nor hear. The silence with the earplugs also made me feel very lonely. Although the assignment lasted for about an hour in each location, it was quite disconcerting and draining. I learned that I am very impatient as I had to stop myself from ripping away my sensory inhibitors in trying to get something done. I also learned that people can be very kind and helpful, as a lady at the church offered helped me up when I fell at the church. I explained the assignment to her, and she said that we must always help others who may not be able to do things for themselves. After the assignment, I feel very differently towards older people with any kind of impairment. I felt first-hand the frustration and helplessness that comes with not being able to manage the smallest task and having to rely on others. Henceforth I will go out of my way to be helpful and considerate.
The environment proved to be a significant challenge, and I would have benefited from several changes. The first challenge was the steps and stairs both at home and at the church. The ramp at the church made walking easier, but at home, I had to go upstairs to get to my room. Another change that I would have benefited from was even flooring. Both at home and in the church, the floors had different levels that I tripped during the cumulative alteration. The people in my environment could have been more helpful in several ways. One was to guide me either verbally, or with touch depending on the sensory alteration, they could also have made the environment more conducive by removing objects and placing things in my hands when I had the tape on my fingers. The sensory assignment was an eye-opening experience that has transformed my view of people with sensory impairments. I learned that we need to be more patient and attentive to their needs, as well as give them all our respect and support.
Senior Center Description
Senior Center DescriptionNorth Shore Senior Center focuses on the independence of older adults. Passion drives the commitment and work at the center. The aim is to redefine the aging process using a social community for senior citizens defined by friendship, volunteerism, and new experiences.
Mather Community Center intends to create an extraordinary atmosphere to age well. It offers programs that provide endless means to explore individual passions for the target group. The setup is non-conventional targeting older individuals with a desire to connect from the comfort of their homes.
The Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center is a public funded institution that prioritizes on the welfare of the diverse older adult community. it enhances the quality of life for the group through providing opportunities for social inclusion, connections, wellness, lifelong learning, and engagement.
The Center Belvedere aims to positively impact the community through enabling healthy aging. Main provisions include civic involvement, learning, social engagement, and physical welfare. The opportunities aim to facilitate the desire of seniors to try new things, and have fun.
The Summit has an unconventional senior center feel. Its mission is to enhance quality of life through connecting people, places, partnerships, and programs for seniors. It has a country club aura combined with the benefits of a fitness center to help focus on wellness.
The Sun Bay Senior Club provides personalized services for seniors. It intends to provide the best care, entertainment, and wellness for older adults. The organization takes on a best-practices approach through combining cognitive, physical, and social realms to create a good environment for seniors.
Greenwich House has four senior centers that provide educational, cultural, physical, and social programs for senior members. The overall mission of the institution is to offer an interactive community for seniors to foster an active lifestyle by offering special participatory events.
Lenox Hill Senior Center focuses on arts and culture. The community-based arts engagement programs intend to provide a wellness environment for the growing aged population. It targets 60+ adults to partake in their various learning programs for increased community welfare.
Oak Ridge Senior Center offers education, information, recreation, senior nutrition programs, transport assistance, and other services related to the wellness of older adults in the community. the facility also provides meeting grounds for the elderly.
Healdsburg Senior Center wears many hats with a focus on staying connected and constant communication amongst the elderly in the community. The center also provides medical and nutritional needs, isolation plans, volunteer programs, and any other activities and services that aim to help the elderly neighbors live better.
References
Greenwich House https://www.greenwichhouse.org/senior-services/senior-centers/Healdsburg Senior Center https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/269/Senior-Services
Lenox Hill Senior Center https://www.lenoxhill.org/olderadultservicesMather Community Center https://www.mather.com/about-usNorth Shore Senior Center https://www.nssc.org/mission-visionOak Ridge Senior Center http://orrecparks.oakridgetn.gov/senior-center/The Center Belvedere https://thecentercville.org/mission
The Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center https://www.icgov.org/city-government/departments-and-divisions/senior-center/about-usThe Summit https://grandfungp.com/page/about-us/The Sun Bay Senior Club https://sunbayseniors.com/about-us/our-mission/
Senator Richard Blumenthal
Senator Richard Blumenthal
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Senator Richard Blumenthal is the United States Senator representing Connecticut from 2011 to date. He had a long and illustrious career as an attorney and politician before becoming the senator. He was the Attorney General of the state of Connecticut for ten years, 1991 to 2011, one of the wealthiest current Senators; he is worth about $100 million. He became a senior Senator in 2013. Senator Blumenthal is a member of the Democratic Party. Over his life of service to the United States and the state of Connecticut, he has lent his voice to many important pieces of legislation to make the country a better and safer place to live in.
The Senator was born in New York to Jane and Martin Blumenthal. His mother was a teacher and his father a businessman. Richard attended private school in the Bronx, Riverdale School. He attained his higher education form the prestigious colleges of Harvard, Trinity College in England and Yale Law School. His classmates at Yale included Bill and Hillary Clinton. In addition, he had the position of editor-in-chief of the school’s law journal. After college, he went on to the United States Marine Corps Reserve between 1970 and 1976 and eventually attained the rank of a sergeant. He received deferments to Vietnam due to his time in school and his career afterward. He has been accused of misleading voters into thinking he served in Vietnam and has apologized for any misunderstanding. After that he went into law practice, becoming an administrative assistant for prominent people such as Senator Ribicoff and a law clerk under Judge Newman and Supreme Court Justice Blackmun.
Senator Blumenthal’s political career began in the Connecticut House of Representatives between 1985 and 1987, after which he won election into the Senate. In 1990, he was elected to become the Attorney General of Connecticut, a position he occupied for twenty years. Before becoming the AG, he worked in a law firm and had represented a death row inmate who had been wrongly convicted. Blumenthal managed to save the man’s life a mere fifteen hours before the convict would have been executed. This case led him to testify in support of the abolition of the death penalty in the state of Connecticut. Many expected him to run for office as a state Governor, but this never happened. When Connecticut U.S Senator Chris Dodd retired in 2010, Blumenthal threw his hat into the ring, and his candidacy was widely accepted in the state. He ran against Linda McMahon and won 55 percent of the total votes cast. Joe Lieberman retired, and Senior Senator in 2013 and Senator Blumenthal took up the position. He was re-elected in 2016, making history with more than a million votes in the statewide election.
During his tenure as Attorney General, he prosecuted many cases including drug trafficking, consumer fraud, white collar crimes, environmental pollution, organized crime, and civil rights violations. Some of the most notable examples include the lawsuit against Big Tobacco company together with 46 other states, they accused the company of having known the dangers of smoking and demanded that they are reimbursed for Medicaid expenses incurred by the states concerning tobacco. The company paid $246 billion nationally. In 1999, Blumenthal filed a lawsuit against the Village Academy, a charter school in New Haven for financial mismanagement. The Connecticut Supreme Court unanimously ruled that he had no authority to cite common law in May of 1998, he and 19 other lawyers filed against Microsoft for misusing monopoly power to stifle competitors. Blumenthal also made a case against MySpace and Craigslist for not having put in place adequate measures against sex offenders and predators. He has urged that the Environmental Protection Agency declare carbon dioxide as a threat to human health and welfare.
He first vied the Connecticut Senatorial seat in 2010 and received widespread support, and he was named as the Democratic Party candidate by acclamation. Even before the election, polls carried out in the state showed that Blumenthal maintained a steady lead against all of the incumbents including McMahon and Robb Simmons. A report appeared in the New York Times accusing the Senator of saying he had served in Vietnam when in reality he had not. One of his commanding officers at the time he had served in the Marine Corps remarked that the report was petty and praising Blumenthal to be one of the best Mariners with whom he had ever worked. During his terms as Connecticut Senator, Blumenthal has served in multiple committees. These are Committees on the Judiciary, Armed Services, Veteran Affairs, Aging, Commerce, Sean, and Transportation as well as the Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He sponsored the Affordable College Textbook Act in the 115th Congress.
Senator Blumenthal has taken a stance of many issues of national importance including gun control, the economy, China among others. When it comes to Gun Control, he has openly supported the implementation of mental health checks on individuals owning guns and criticized the National Rifles Association for its support of gun ownership. Most recently, he called on the grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft until a cause is established for the Ethiopian Airlines crash. He is an avid supporter of reproductive rights, speaking out against Wal-Mart’s efforts to ban the sale of contraceptives. He supports federal funding of family planning clinics. On the issue of immigration, he and seventeen other senators wrote to the U.S Secretary of Homeland Security demanding that immigrant children be reunited with their parents. In August 2018, lawmakers including Senator Blumenthal urged the government to impose sanctions against China for violations of human rights against Uyghur Muslims in detention camps.
On economic matters, the senator along with fellow senators wrote to the Federal Trade Commission outlining the harm of non-compete and incomplete clauses imposed on employees by their employers. Such provisions limit the employees’ ability to find work elsewhere and hamper their efforts to bargain for better wages or working conditions in their current forms of employment. The prevalence of non-compete clauses derail the competitiveness of the market and impacts the economy negatively. Several Democratic Party Senators wrote to the Salman of Saudi Arabia demanding the release of rights lawyer and human rights activists. Saudi Arabia had a track record for the detention of peaceful activities, mistreatment of immigrant workers and discrimination of women and minorities.
Some of the functions of state legislature include making laws for the state as well oversight of the other branches of government. Over the past several years, the state of Connecticut has faced many challenges including high taxes, crime, and fiscal policies. The bills on retirement benefits have also escalated, and this needs to be addressed as it takes up a lot of the budget. The public school system also needs regulation. In general, the state has budgeting problems. The state legislature has failed to come up with effective laws to address these issues. Although Senator Blumenthal has made significant contributions to the nation, the state of Connecticut remains in dire situations especially with regards to its economy.
Bibliography
Blumenthal, Richard. “The Role of State Attorneys General.” Conn. L. Rev. 33 (2000): 1207.
Lyon, Jeff. “Concern Over Family Planning Clinics.” Jama 317, no. 14 (2017): 1404-1404.
Sugarman, Stephen D. “Torts and Guns.” Journal of Tort Law10, no. 1 (2017): 3-22.
Bishara, Norman D., and Evan Starr. “The incomplete noncompete picture.” Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 20 (2016): 497.