Elder Care

Have you ever thought what you want to do when you get old? Will you move to an assisted living center? Or will you have to go to a nursing home.

For trans-people those questions invoke fear of the unknown. An article on the web-site About.com reports that,

Experts estimate that between 1.75 and 3.50 million Americans ages 60 and over are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Their numbers should increase as the older population grows in the next 30 years. A major challenge in meeting their needs is the limited research on older persons who are gay or lesbian. Even fewer studies have examined the experiences of bisexual and transgender elders. Existing research suggests that older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults are satisfied with their lives. The concerns they express about aging are often the same that other older people typically report. Research highlights several issues that are particularly important for LGBT elders.
[…]
Like other older adults, older LGBT persons are interested in housing options, such as continuing-care retirement communities and assisted-living facilities. However, they sometimes encounter homophobic attitudes among fellow residents and some facilities may exclude them entirely. Many older LGBT people express interest in gay-oriented senior housing, but few such facilities exist.

And there are no trans-elder care facilities.

LGBT older persons who live in nursing homes may be especially vulnerable if the healthcare staff is not sensitive to their needs. For example, nursing homes may not allow LGBT residents to share a room with their partner, or some LGBT persons may receive substandard care if they are open about their sexual orientation.

This is even truer for trans-people. In addition, we wonder what wing will be put into, the male wing or the female wing. Will I be stuck in a male ward? Will I be shunned by the other patients? Will I be able to get my hormones or will they be denied to me because they are not covered by insurance? How will Alzheimer or Dementia affect us? Will trans-women be able to get wigs or for that matter will they even be allowed to wear wigs in a nursing home? These are all questions that we should be asking.

However, there is very little that is written on trans-elder care. The report on LGBT elder care, as usual, contains very little on trans issues and deals mainly on issues such as same-sex benefits, inheritance and partner’s access to take an active part in the health care of their partners. A search on Google Scholar find very little in research into elder care of trans-people. So I wish I could give you all the answers, but I can’t because once again all the articles are written for our gay brothers and lesbian sisters even though they tack a “T” in the title. Even an article from the Transgender Aging Network (TAN) is mainly about LG and has very little information on the hardship that trans-people will face in their elder years.

We are going to have to fight for our rights; we are going to have to demand that we are put in the proper wards. We are going to have to fight for our right to senior housing. We are going to have to fight discrimination and bigotry in our old age.