The recent news that the LGBTQ+ activist, Noel Glynn who died in 2021, suffered abuse at the hands of staff at his residential care home in Croydon is deeply concerning and highlights the need for older LGBTQ+ in social care to have their voices heard.
Older LGBTQ+ voices are often overlooked, and there is little research exploring how sexuality and gender identity are (or are not) considered when assessing older LGBTQ+ people for social care. Based on available research, the needs, visibility, and awareness of the older LGBTQ+ population are often missed in care contexts because of different factors impacting both service users and service providers.
We are running the LGBTQ+ Older Adult Social Care Assessment Study (LOASCA), alongside researchers at the University of Manchester, University of Bristol, and Opening Doors, in order to understand the experiences of older LGBTQ+ people in the adult social care system.
A vital part of our research is to hear from LGBTQ+ people that are over 60. We want to hear from people who have experience of the adult social care system first-hand, so that we can get the full picture of how the system treats and supports older LGBTQ+ people.
Although not all older LGBTQ+ people will have had negative experiences in the social care system, homo/bi/trans-phobic discrimination in adult social care should not be swept under the rug, and to combat it we need to know how prevalent it is.
Our study is currently recruiting participants and we want to hear from anyone over 60 in the LGBTQ+ community, who has had experience of adult social care in England. This is an opportunity to have an often-overlooked group of people express their voices and share their stories in a safe way, which we can use to improve social care services.
If you would like to get involved in the project or learn more, you can get in touch with Dr Dora Jandric, the research fellow on the project, by emailing her at d.jandric@bham.ac.uk, or visiting the project webpage for more information on the study.
