EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Discrimination in healthcare, housing and legal protections: is this how we treat an aging population?

Hello KIRC family.

Let me ask you a question: what does family mean to you?

It has always been my belief that family looks and feels different for each of us. Maybe your family is made up of only those linked by blood.

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For many, though, family is a created unit to include those who love, cherish and care for you. It includes those who ‘have your back,’ and accept you for who you are. We may feel that being loved and protected go hand in hand.

But consider this: for many Americans who identify as LGBT, the legal protections and services many of us may take for granted, are not necessarily a given.

Courtesy: UCLA School of Law Williams Institute

According to the UCLA School of Law; Williams Institute**, there are 13-million people ages 13 and older in the United States identifying as LGBT.

Also, ‘Nearly half of all LGBT people lack protections from discrimination in employment, education, housing, public accommodations, and credit.’

What do these numbers mean within the field of aging and the intersection of care for those who identify as LGBT?

I had a chance to sit down and talk with Jennifer Horn, MSW, a social worker and family caregiver support planner with the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging in Colorado. She is also a 2022 American Society on Aging ASA Rise Program Fellow.

*Related articles*

ASA Rise Mentorship and What it Means to Me

ASA Rise: Connecting caregving, DEI work and aging

Ms. Horn specializes in issues in aging focused on the LGBT community and veterans.

She is passionate about raising awareness to the many challenges faced by those who identify as LGBT, within housing and healthcare at all stages of life, but especially as individuals age.

Ms. Horn recently offered up a powerful presentation during the ASA On Aging Conference in New Orleans.

She spelled out a host of what she described as ‘Sad Facts’ impacting the LGBT community:

Sad Facts

  • Survival means staying hidden and never disclosing your sexual orientation or gender identity

  • Less likely to have children to care for them

  • Many live in isolation, due to living alone

  • May have been victimized before

  • 29 states do NOT have LGBT protection. That means individuals in those states can LEGALLY be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

  • LGBT individuals have higher rates of depression and die sooner than their heterosexual counterparts.

  • LGBT older adults face barriers to receiving formal health care and social support that heterosexual, cisgender adults do not.

  • Financial instability and legal issues are major concerns among LGBT seniors

  • Spend a lifetime of being someone who is not authentically you, and then having to die hiding your authentic self.

  • Never being able to share your stories about your life and hiding a colossal part of who you are

*Source: Jennifer Horn, MSW, PPACG*

**Source: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-nondiscrimination-statutes/

In her own words

“You have an older population that is LGBT that still needs senior services and support. They need community, they need network, they need to have a sense of belonging.

I don’t like knowing there are older adults out there who have worked their entire lives to retire, to get where they’re going, and then they have to go back in the closet when they’re moved to a care facility.” ~ Jennifer Horn, MSW

Keeping it REAL Caregiving thanks Ms. Horn for her dedication, compassion and passion for raising awareness and striving for equality and fairness for all.

If any of you would like more information, resources and guidance on serving as an ally and supporter within your own communities, reach out to Keeping It REAL Caregiving, for guidance on connecting with Ms. Horn and her expertise.

Contact: [email protected]

And THANK YOU for joining KIRC as a supporting sponsor!

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Until next time~

Julia