Ageing Action Group

LGBT Ageing Action Group

Healthy Communities, along with other organisations including the Gay & Lesbian Welfare Association and the Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre have formed an LGBT Ageing Action Group. Find out more here.

Seniors Visiting Service

A service of Healthy Communites where trained volunteers visit socially isolated LGBT seniors.  For more information on receiving a visitor or becomeing a volunteer, click here.

 

More resources for LGBT seniors:

 

Productivity Commission Inquiry into Aged Care

LGBT Aged Care Packages - radio interview

Action Plan

Living & Loving Our Way: Lives of LGBT Seniors (Photostories)

The Young, The Ageing and The Restless (survey)

Potential Approaches to work with Senior LGBT Queenslanders

Services for Older People

Submissions

Links

Productivity Commission Inquiry into Aged Care

The Productivity Commission inquired into the aged care sector in Australia and made a number of significant recommendations.  They have also included a section of the needs of LGBTI seniors.

Aged Care Reform Factsheet (COTA)

Aged Care Reform - What could it mean for me? (COTA)

National LGBTI Health Alliance Submission to the inquiry

National LGBTI Health Alliance response to draft report

Link to Productivity Commission report

LGBTI Aged Care Packages - radio interview

Listen to 'Care Connect' talk about their LGBTI aged care packages on ABC's Life Matters here.  Well done to Sujay and Paul from Care Connect!

 

LGBT Ageing Action Group

The needs of LGBT seniors are becoming more prominent here in Australia and overseas. This is due in part to the “baby-boomer” generation reaching older age and expecting to receive culturally appropriate services. In addition to the issues confronting all older people, LGBT seniors face particular issues related to their sexuality or gender identity, including:

  1. lack of family support in older age (especially those who have no children)
  2. stigma & discrimination from residents and clients of older people’s services
  3. stigma & discrimination and assumptions of heterosexuality from service providers
  4. age discrimination within the LGBT community
  5. finding residential facilities that welcome their same sex partner
  6. dealing with the effects of life long stigma & discrimination
  7. lack of visibility of LGBT people & culture in aged care services
  8. long term effects of taking hormones by transgender people

The Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC), along with other organisations including the Gay & Lesbian Welfare Association and the Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre have formed an LGBT Ageing Action Group. The purpose of this group is to:

  1. involve LGBT older people in older people’s services & representative structures
  2. identify the needs of older LGBT people
  3. identify the needs of service provides in caring for older LGBT people
  4. training and development of older people’s services on LGBT issues
  5. development of LGBT specific projects or services
  6. promotion of older people’s services among LGBT people

If you would like to join the LGBT Ageing Action Group, please contact Paul Martin at pmartin@qahc.org.au or (07) 3017 1791.

Meeting dates for 2012:

3pm - 4:30pm @ Healthy Communities (Brisbane)

  • 21 Nov

Minutes of Action Group Meetings:

Please help us continue our work to improve services for LGBT seniors by making a tax deductible donation now using the button below. Your gift will allow our LGBT Ageing Action Group further their unfunded community work.

 

Action Plans

The LGBT Ageing Action group has developed an Action Plan for our work in 2012.

The work of the Action Group is unfunded, and relies on the support of partner organisations, volunteers, donations, sponsorships and occasional small grants.

Living & Loving Our Way: Lives of LGBT Seniors

LGBT seniors continue to contribute so much to our community and society.  But often they are not visible in the LGBT community or wider mainstream aged care services.

The LGBT Ageing Action Group, with a grant from the Healthy Communities Fund, commissioned world renowned photo-journalist Madeleine Marx-Bentley to document the lives of eight LGBT seniors in a series of photographs.   The project 'Living & Loving Our Way: Lives of LGBT Seniors' was launched at the Brisbane Pride Festival Fair Day in 2010.

The photos will be used by QAHC to promote the ordinary and extraordinary lives of LGBT seniors in our training packages and lobbying activities.

View the photos here.

The Young, The Ageing and The Restless:

understanding the experiences and future expectations of ageing and caring in the QLD GLBT community

New research shows a high level of concern among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Queenslanders about getting older and the care they will receive in older age.

The Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) has released findings of an online study into the experiences and expectations of ageing and caring, of over 400 LGBT Queenslanders.

‘The Young, The Ageing and The Restless’ report reveals that:

  • the highest concern about ageing for LGBT people is not having LGBT specific accommodation
  • 43% of LGBT people have had a negative experience related to their sexuality or gender identity when accessing aged care or carer’s services
  • 52% of LGBT people are concerned that their same sex partner will not be recognised by services
  • over 75% of LGBT people do not believe there is adequate representation of older LGBT people in LGBT or mainstream media
  • 66% of LGBT people have no or limited knowledge of aged care or carer’s services
  • 64% of LGBT people want LGBT community organisations to provide information and referral to LGBT seniors and carers

Younger people and those not currently receiving or providing care had higher and more positive expectations about ageing than older groups. Older people were more concerned about the quality and lack of services for LGBT seniors and the general decline in their health and more likely to report having no-one to rely on emotionally or live with in older age.

Gay men were more likely than lesbians to currently experience or expect to live alone in older age, be concerned about the lack of respect for older people in the LGBT community and to have no-one to rely on emotionally or for physical or practical support.

“This is one of the few quantitative studies in Australia into the experiences and expectations of LGBT people about ageing” said Paul Martin, General Manager.

“The study highlights significant concerns among LGBT people about getting older, who will care for us and the quality of care we will receive from aged care services.”

“Unfortunately aged care policy and programs in Queensland and Australia do not recognise the needs of LGBT seniors and there are no specific services for this population in Queensland.”

View the report here.

Potential Approaches to work with Senior LGBT Queenslanders

QAHC has produced a brief document summarising the needs of senior LGBT people and suggesting actions to respond to these, in the areas of:

  • awareness raising
  • information & skills development
  • services for LGBT seniors
  • research
  • training & development
  • representative structures
  • advocacy & public policy

View the document here.

Services for Older People

The QAHC LGBT Ageing Action Group has produced an advert promoting services for older people and their carers. This will be run in LGBT press as funding allows. Please feel free to circulate or display the advert.

Services Advert

Submissions

Healthy Communities' submission to Brisbane City Council draft Seniors Strategy.

QAHC submission to 'Positively Ageless' Qld government consultation

National LGBT Health Alliance submission to Productivity Commission

Links

Lesbian and Gay Ageing Issues in Australia
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jamms/

LGBT Ageing Project – American Ageing Group
http://www.lgbtagingproject.org/

Lesbian and Gay Ageing Issues Network – part of the LGBT Ageing project and the American Society on Ageing (newsletters)
http://www.asaging.org/networks/index.cfm?cg=LGAIN