LGBT adults

LGBT adults

Gender identity marginalized people consisting of the transgender individuals have many everyday situations and problems. Elderly individuals face unique challenges that require various types of concern and professionalism. Lgbt Individuals encounter many changes comprising discrimination in different social places, loneliness and mistreatment by the medical care system. Also, some individuals, especially the transgender people who are elderly, face the challenge of not being able to hide their gender identity to healthcare providers.

LGBT adults who are over 50 years are an expanding population, which most probably requires frequent concern in matters of their health care and social needs. From the outcomes of the interview with the Lgbt elderly individual, it is clear that there is a need for a culturally specific training aimed at equipping the medical care and social services organizations and experts on how to alleviate the way they handle LGBT older adults. This training will assist in minimizing discrimination which most LGBT elderly adults dread in their search for healthcare and expert assistance.

Isolation is among the significant challenges faced by LGBT older people. Only a small percentage is currently in a marital relationship in comparison to around fifty percent of older adults who are cisgender. Most of the elderly LGBT individuals’ are single and probably living alone. For the transition of a transgender individual, the situation of isolation is intensified due to the cessation of contact with their former friends to make the treatment plan an effective treatment plan.

Reachability and reception of adequate medical attention is another concern that arose during the interview with the Lgbt elderly individual. Getting proper medical care for the Lgbt older population can be quite hectic. In comparison to heterosexual older individuals, Lgbt older adults have reduced accessibility to appropriate medical care. Once the health care professionals know about the sexual identity or orientation of a patient who is an Lgbt elderly adult, some of the health care providers tend to develop homophobia or transphobia towards the patient. The Lgbt older person I was interviewing narrated how one time he went into a nursing home and when the nurses found out that he was a gay, they gave him back the fee he had paid and chased him out of the nursing home premises. Lgbt older people are also likely to receive poor quality health care due to the overt homophobia of health care providers. Even before encountering any form of discrimination from the service providers, the Lgbt older people have a notion that they will not obtain friendly professional help if the providers get to know they are Lgbt people. Due to the stigma of discrimination, Lgbt older adults may fail to reveal their sexual orientation from the medical care expert. Due to both psychological and health purposes, this concealment of minority sexual orientation may be destructive to the Lgbt older adult soliciting medical services.

As they advance in age, most Lgbt elder individuals begin to have fears concerning their financial wellbeing. Instabilities related to finances are significant issues among the aging population. Nevertheless, Lgbt older persons encounter more problems due to the disparities in acquiring legal and social services, correctly connected to recognition of the legitimate partnership, long-lasting sources of income and chances to accumulate savings. Similar-sex couples are not able to obtain public benefits services established to offer monetary help to older people. For instance, Lgbt older people who are in same-sex marriages are not able to get benefits from national services comprising long-term medical care, retirement programs and social security even when the state is aware of such marriage.

Furthermore, discrimination of housing is another relevant issue of concern in the lives of Lgbt older adults. Some house owners openly show their discriminative attitude to Lgbt people by either quoting increased rent or rejecting housing requests from minority sexual orientation people. Lgbt older adults profoundly suffer in such cases due to their limited mobility and reduced activeness in such for more housing options. The Lgbt elderly adult I interviewed recalled how some transgender adults were evicted from their apartments because of their minority gender identity. Marginalized sexual orientation and gender identity older individuals may also experience discrimination when seeking homes after retirement and also aged housing. The Lgbt older adults face unfair treatment in issues related to the pricing of the houses, availability, monetary incentives, or in a request for housing requirements.

Lgbt older individuals have developed strong resilience and coping abilities to overcome the stressors they face. Among the coping techniques applied to include collective and individual coping strategies. Particular coping consists of a person developing a positive view when handling stressful circumstances. Lgbt elderly adults also use group coping, where they establish organizations to foster a sense of belonging and unity and developing a conducive atmosphere of protection and support. Social support channels among the Lgbt elderly persons have resulted in many positive impacts; for instance, proper health. The social networks have helped the Lgbt older individuals to handle internalized homophobia. Atlanta is among the states with the largest Lgbt population, has made a step forward in offering culturally practical training to equip the service providers with skills to enable them to handle Lgbt individuals in a friendly manner. These training have helped in providing quality services to Lgbt older adults.