This competency-based secondary learning guide on assisting the elderly and individuals with disabilities is part of a series that are adaptations of guides developed for adult consumer and homemaking education programs. The guides provide students with experiences that help them learn to do the following: make decisions; use creative approaches to solve problems; establish personal goals; communicate effectively; and apply management skills to situations faced as an individual, family member, student, and worker. Each learning guide includes the following sections: a general introduction and guidelines for using the material; a checklist for users for advance planning; introduction to the guide; specified competencies, with student outcomes/evaluations, definitions, key ideas, teacher strategies/methods, suggested student activities, sample assessments, and supplementary resources. The following competencies are addressed: relate needs of the elderly to quality of life, identify support services for assisting the elderly and/or individuals with disabilities, and describe elder abuse. Twenty-seven supplements contain information and activity sheets on the following: facts and myths about aging, adult needs, media images, housing, support services, self-esteem, stress, coping, and abuse. Concluding the guide is an 89-item bibliography. (MN)