#independent-living

#independent-living

I love to take care of people to listen to people, says Carlini, gazing around her home from her wheelchair. I never thought I would be in this position. After dealing with severe leg problems and pain for five years and undergoing four failed surgeries to try and correct the situation Carlini had her left leg amputated in late 2024. The pain was gone, she remarks from the home she shares with two dogs, two birds and son Matteo.

Age tech is a rapidly growing category focused on remote caregiving, improving quality of life, and enabling older folks to stay in their own homes for longer. The US Census Bureau says around 16 million elders (over 65) live alone. While the majority are healthy, with family and friends nearby, many lack support and may be battling physical and mental decline.

When she's not working at an East Bay grocery store, she's tending a garden, honing her music skills and learning recipes to cook. An athlete who's medaled in track and field and javelin throwing, she helped her bocce team snatch bronze at the Special Olympics Northern California Summer Games in 2024. And when she's not doing all that, she's kicking back with her friends at Irby Ranch, an affordable-housing community in Pleasanton for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD).

Wong was a mentee of pioneering independent living advocate Judy Heumann, who was an early leader at Pineda's organization, established in 1972 as the first independent living center in the country, organized and operated by persons with disabilities. Pineda said Wong, who often employed new technology in her work, acted as a bridge connecting the lessons from the first generation she'd learned from Heumann to the incoming third and fourth generations of the movement, largely through social media.

Whenever 93-year-old Chris Meyer leaves her apartment, she looks well put together, wearing an elegant outfit and full makeup. She often clutches her Maltese dog, Mia, and greets neighbors with a lipsticked smile in the Boca Raton, Florida, condominium where she has lived independently since 2022. "I don't do it for anyone else, I do it for me," she told Business Insider, about her appearance.

An annexe is self-contained accommodation with one or more bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and a living area. It can be attached or detached from the main house.