LGBT AND ASEXUALITY FLAGS
With many older adults
focused on growing old and dying at home, it’s easy to forget that the
likelihood of that happening is lower for certain populations. The lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community (same-sex partners) and those who
are asexual (no sexual attraction to others) fall into that category. In recent years, asexuality has been scientifically
researched as a sexual orientation.
In LGBT research controlling
age, race-ethnicity, and education, it was determined that this
population faces greater risks of needing long-term care than those living with
different-sex partners. These were two of the activity limitations that
indicate a need for long-term care:
1)
Difficulty
dressing or bathing
Older
women living with female partners were significantly more likely than those
living with male partners to have difficulty dressing or bathing.
2)
Difficulty doing
errands alone
Older
men living with male partners were significantly more likely than those living
with female partners to need assistance with errands.
These
results emphasize further the need for more culturally sensitive education in the
ongoing training of healthcare workers, particularly those involved with LGBT
residents in long-term care settings. Lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) older adults living in nursing homes, assisted living,
and even those receiving home care from healthcare workers have increasingly
been discriminated against and abused by staff and fellow residents. Damage to
their emotional and physical health has been so devastating that some LGBT
residents have resorted to suicide.
In this video, Paige Faevre shares her
personal concerns about living in a long-term care setting and her search for
LGBT-friendly housing for older adults.
Frances Shani Parker,
Author
Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer
in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book
editions in America and other countries at online and offline booksellers.
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