Teachers of adults, if they are to be really effective, must be sensitive to the particular characteristics and needs of adult learners. Adults have many physiological, psychological, and social characteristics that are the result of normal aging. In determining which characteristics interfere with learning, it is found that all have an impact on the learning processes but few impair the adult from learning. Even though, as adults grow older, visual and audio acuity decrease, attention spans grow shorter, and energy decreases, the effects are usually not monumental. As adult educators become more familiar with these problems they are able to cope with them by planning, for example, more visual aids, better voice projection, and shorter, more concise assignments. As teachers become more sensitive to the characteristics and needs of adults, the positive attributes of aging begin to outweigh the detriments. The freedom of choice that adults have in their educational ventures can help overcome their learning difficulties. Further, adults are generally settled in their lifestyles, are more mature in their thinking, have life's experiences on which to draw and are serious about how they spend their time. Although some characteristics of adults may slow learning, lifelong learning can become a reality as adult educators become more aware of adult needs. (EM)